Glasgow’s two “ghost pupil” headteachers are due to face separate formal hearings within the next week after they were suspended for allegedly keeping children on the rolls long after they had left, David Henderson writes. It is claimed that council policy was breached to gain extra teachers and resources.
Maire Whitehead, head of St Mirin’s primary, and Lesley Dalgleish, head of Mount Florida primary, are prominent members of the Association of Head Teachers in Scotland.
Mrs Whitehead, a press spokeswoman, was suspended last Friday, coincidentally after commenting on her colleague’s circumstances t The TES Scotland. Ken Corsar, the city’s education director, described Ms Dalgleish’s case as an isolated incident but that was before the second surprise suspension.
Mrs Whitehead was this week unavailable for comment after taking legal advice. She has been a national figure in the AHTS for some years and as vice-president led the campaign for primary heads’ equal pay.
Her political commitment to the Scottish National Party thwarted her presidential ambitions while she narrowly missed out on becoming an SNP-list member at Holyrood.
Ms Dalgleish is association secretary in the city.
