MIRFIELD and Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik has called an emergency meeting with headteachers to discuss Kirklees Council's plans for the town's schools' futures.
The meeting is taking place today (Friday) at Dewsbury Town Hall and Mr Malik and heads will discuss alternatives to Kirklees' Brighter Futures proposals.
Mr Malik said: "The current proposals are ill-conceived and ill-thought through and we woul
d be failing not one generation but many generations of children if we stood by and allowed them to come to fruition.
"This meeting is a crucial opportunity to start the coordinated response to the council's proposals and importantly I want a united response with schools across Mirfield and Dewsbury coming together to propose a powerful alternative for the sake of our children and young people."
Mr Malik said he believed by working together, he and the headteachers could find an alternative which would keep Castle Hall and Mirfield Free grammar schools open, retain the sixth form at St John Fisher Catholic High school in Dewsbury, and find a viable scheme for an academy with sixth form in Dewsbury.
He added: "If we get this wrong we will be failing children for the next 50 years – that's how important this fight is.
"Nothing is impossible and Kirklees are in for the fight of their lives. I pray once more that common sense will triumph - but we have our work cut out."
First published October 10, 2008.