PARENTS and others in Otley concerned about the proposed reorganisation of primary and infant schools have until Wednesday next week to make their feelings known.

Most accept that there are too many primary schools in the town. With a falling birth rate and no large scale housing development about to happen, half empty schools had to close.

But whichever schools were earmarked, there was bound to be opposition - after all, what parent would be happy to see their child's education possibly disrupted? Try telling one parent that their school is less good than another. And with the best intentions in the world and after all the reassurances of those heading the reorganisation, children at that delicate time in their education will face disruption.

It was never going to be an easy job. Education Leeds, the schools arm of Leeds City Council, tried to make it run as smoothly as possible - even agreeing to make changes to its original proposals at one of the first public meetings.

Otley Town Council, detecting that the plans might cause a rift amongst the school community, made a plea for parents to remain calm and rational and opted to stay neutral.

Now, as we near the end of public consultation following the publication of statutory notices, parents of two of the schools are calling for a level playing field. They want Education Leeds to revert back to its original proposals and to close all five schools, reopening them at the start of the school year.

It would mean all teachers, staff and governors applying for the jobs, but would effectively merge all schools together. It will not please the schools who are set to reopen with no change to their teaching staff, but it would be fairer to everyone.

Or to put it another way, it does appear unfair that some teachers have been promised job security whatever the outcome of the changes, while others have not.