A FATHER is furious after the results of a £20,000 inquiry into the retired headteacher of a special school are still unknown a year on, even though the report was finished six months ago.
The educational authority independent inquiry into former headteacher of Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, Michael Toman, was initiated last October after complaints by the parent over the headteacher’s treatment of his child.
The inquiry was launched by Denbighshire County Council, but the release of the report into its findings has been delayed several times.
The report took six months to complete at a cost of £19,419.
The father said he was told by the independent body that the report was completed in mid April of this year but he has still not been allowed to see the findings even though he initiated the complaint.
"I put a formal complaint in about how my child was dealt with over 18 months ago and I have still not had a reply," said the father.
In September 2008 Mr Toman was placed on 'restricted duties' after he authorised his staff to keep a neglect diary over 18 months about the severely autistic child, and take photos - some of which showed the child's bare buttocks - without parental consent or without informing social services.
The father asked the inquiry to look at whether or not Mr Toman's actions were a breach of practice and a breach of human rights.
In July this year Denbighshire County Council announced Mr Toman’s retirement and said: “At the time of Dr Toman’s resignation, the internal processes had not been concluded.”
The father said there is a reluctance to let him see the report or give any information out about Mr Toman.
"I have put in many Freedom of Information requests but I haven't had any answers."
The father said he is always met with the same response of "under section 1(1)(a)of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Council does hold the information requested" and was recently told the council was "assessing the public interest test."
He added: "It's always quite entertaining to see how many ways there is to say no."
The family have now moved out of the county but said that due to the delays they unable to ‘move on’.
"We feel that our decision to leave Denbighshire was forced upon us by Denbighshire County Council as we didn't feel we could get a proper education for our child,” added the father.
A spokeswoman for Denbighshire County Council said: "We do not comment on individual personal cases. The process is compete from council side of things and Mr Toman has resigned."
A spokesman for the General Teaching Council for Wales said: “In line with Welsh Assembly Government Regulations at the time, the correct route of referral for cases of this nature would have been from the local authority to the Welsh Assembly Government who would then, in turn, pass it onto the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). If the case does not involve any risk or harm to pupils, it will be referred to the General Teaching Council for Wales. To date, GTCW has not received a referral of this matter from the ISA.”
The Welsh Assembly Government said it was a matter between the governing body of the school and the local authority and a spokesman for The Independent Safeguarding Authority said they were unable to discuss the details of individual cases and cannot confirm whether or not a case has been referred to them.