This Is What ‘Public Service’ Means In 2009…

Not much to say about the case of the school that barred two children from their end of term disco because of their poor attendance following the death of their father that someone probably hasn’t already done better by now.

And I think you’d need to be a swearblogger to fully convey the contempt that most people will feel for such jobsworths anyway.

But two things stood out about the story, and they perfectly encapsulate the ‘service’ that we now come to expect from the minions of the State now.

Firstly, the insinuation that, because a school employee gave the wrong information, that was somehow the fault of the recipient of that information:

A spokesman for the school said: 'Following conversations with the headteacher, it appears there was a mistake about the Year 1 little boy and he could have attended the disco.

'This would have been put right if the mother had spoken to the right person, because of the way the mother spoke to the admin assistant the opportunity to rectify this appropriately was missed.

'The school will apologise to mum for this genuine error.'

Here’s a thought for you, ‘unnamed spokesman’.

How about apologising unreservedly for the fact that someone in the school’s employ gave out incorrect information? Without the hint that the mother is a fool for taking the word of a mere classroom assistant seriously in the first place?

If the classroom assistant wasn’t tasked with giving out this information, why did she simply not refer Mrs Watson to the appropriate person?

Secondly, there’s the chasing of government-mandated targets above all else:

Mrs Clarke said the school always supported families that suffered bereavements and was sympathetic to the Watsons' situation.

She said: 'We have gone from the bottom six up 39 places in the league tables of achievement in Bradford.

'We beat the national standard for writing and for science.'

And in chasing those government-mandated targets, you’ve lost something far, far more important, haven’t you?

I wonder if you know what it is?