Board reveals school strike deal

Twenty-five teachers belonging to the NASUWT union are on strike

The South Eastern Education and Library Board has made public its latest offer to end the Movilla High School strike.

The Newtownards school has been closed for nine days in a dispute over teaching a boy.

The row began after teachers' pay was docked for refusing to teach the pupil, who they claim assaulted one of them.

The SEELB said it offered to have the boy's needs assessed by an educational psychologist - and wanted both sides to abide by their recommendations.

Chief Executive Stanton Sloane said the parents had also volunteered to have the boy stay away from the school until this was completed.

He also said that the SEELB would review its internal communication strategies.

"I felt the objective way to deal with this would be to engage a third party," he said.

The 25 members of the NASUWT teachers' union at the school decided to continue their strike following talks at the Labour Relations Agency on Wednesday night.

Fred Brown of the union said they rejected the deal because they would not be able to see the report on the boy.

"We couldn't possibly accept the recommendations under those circumstances," he said.

It is not clear when further talks at the Labour Relations Agency may take place and the school breaks for the Halloween holiday on Friday.

The ATL union' s 10 members at Movilla who are not on strike have been consulted on the offer from the Board.

A spokesman said they viewed it as a step forward, but have asked union officials to have more discussions on issues around it.