Life used to be so simple…

That was the title of an article that appeared in the June edition of “Backchat” written by a parent who wanted to highlight the increasing burden on PTA/PAs when they need to take out school lets and their school has been part of PPP project. Well, it certainly made some people sit up and take notice!

The company that was named in the article is Forth Electrical Services, (FES). This is the company that parents from this school have to phone if they need to take out a let for a PTA event and is considered by the PTA to be the “letting agency”. This is not entirely correct as FES are a “facilities management” company – our mistake! (The Letting Agency is Innovate.)

FES happened to receive a copy of Backchat and contacted us straight away as they felt that their company had been portrayed in a rather poor light. We agreed to hold a meeting to discuss the article and the potential problems connected with PTAs and their company.

It turned out to be a classic case of people reading things in different ways. The parent had wanted to illustrate the lengths we simple PTA people now have to go to in order to organise an event. This is not the fault of FES but just an example of how complicated life has now become. Risk assessments never used to be part of a PTA but unfortunately that’s the way it’s going to be from now on.

On the other hand, FES and others had taken the article very differently and thought that they had been portrayed as unhelpful and even, incompetent. This was certainly not the intention of the article. The parent in question, (OK, it’s me!) can’t deny that things have changed since FES took over and life indeed is not so simple. But, I would not say that FES have purposefully been unhelpful, for example they have negotiated with the school to reduce the costs for PTA events.

At the aforementioned meeting FES officials and SPTC had a very constructive discussion and the result is that I am going to visit the FES offices to see how things work on the front line. We all hope that this will improve the way FES can further help PTAs and make life as easy as possible for them. Its good to know that someone is listening to us parents.

Watch this space for more news!

by Eleanor Coner, parent.