Suspended education chief retires
A council has granted early retirement to its £100,000 a year education chief after lifting a suspension against him.
Inverclyde Council took action against Ian Fraser two weeks ago as part of an investigation into "management and operational matters".
Now the local authority has announced the 59-year-old year is to retire in August - 10 months early.
He will not receive redundancy or an enhanced package but has not been disciplined.
Inverclyde council said it was investigating several issues but Mr Fraser was not the focus.
He was recruited two years ago from the high performing education authority, East Renfrewshire.
The council said his suspension, a fortnight ago, was not a direct result of the controversial decision to deny a girl a place at Gourock High School after drawing her name from a ballot.
The girl's appeal against the decision was upheld by the council, as were the appeals of three other pupils who were denied placing requests at the school.
The council has apologised to the families of the four pupils involved for any distress that had been caused.
An independent consultant has also been appointed by lnverclyde to conduct a review and prepare a report on the policies and procedures for school admissions and placing requests and their operational implementation.
John Mundell, chief executive of Inverclyde Council, said: "Inverclyde Council has historically had an excellent track record of high performing education and social care services and Ian contributed to the further development of these services over the last two and half years."
Source: BBC News, 22nd May 2009.
21st May 2009
