This is Local London reports:
The council has been criticised for giving a seat on a schools forum to a headteacher who wasted more than £100,000 of taxpayers’ money while presiding over her school.
Stanford Primary School and headteacher Keran Currie became embroiled in a police fraud investigation in 2009 when a builder admitted faking invoices for work, which led to inflated payments made to him by Merton Council.
Gary Savage, 53, the Norbury school’s live-in caretaker of 28 years, was suspended by Mrs Currie in September 2009, but was reinstated in June 2010 after being cleared of any wrongdoing.
Councillor Jeff Hanna, chairman of the council’s schools overview panel, said he had asked for a report on how the council advises schools on financial control in order to provide “reassurance” for residents.
But Mr Savage’s union representative said it was “ridiculous” that in June Mrs Currie had herself become a member of the same overview panel.
Rosemary McLoughlin from Unison Merton said: “How can you have someone on this panel, who provides advice on how other schools should run their affairs, who has presided over such a failure in her own school?
“Mr Savage, who did nothing wrong, had allegations of fraud and theft against him but there is no evidence those with financial responsibility like Mrs Currie ever had such pressure put on them.”
Coun Hanna said: “I am happy to meet Ms McLoughlin at any time, but I stand by my previous comments. The investigations were thorough, no offences were committed and the right steps were taken.
"I am therefore unclear on Ms McLoughlin’s motives for wishing to pillory a good school for past misjudgement.”
The Wimbledon Guardian contacted Stanford Primary School and asked to speak to Mrs Currie for a comment, but no one responded after leaving a message.
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