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As Bradford's director of education for the last four years Diana Cavanagh will be seen by many as the obvious fall guy following today's damning
Ofsted report.
She was in post long before the reforms, introduced under chief executive Ian Stewart and praised by the inspectors as moving in the right direction.
So who better to blame?
But Mrs Cavanagh will not be resigning and instead says she will be working to introduce the many measures that Ofsted says must now be taken to raise
standards in the district's schools.
Today she said: "I accept the report in its entirety. I am very concerned about it and obviously
I take it very seriously indeed. But the focus of what we will do is to use the report for improvement."
In fact, in the middle of the report, the inspectors take the time to pay her a compliment. They write that she has: "The credibility and respect of
the department and of most schools, which is a considerable achievement."
The tone of this seems to be at odds with their outright condemnation of the LEA as being incapable
of raising standards in schools or addressing the many issues they raise.
But then so is most of the damning commentary that introduces the report compared to the measured document that follows.
The new executive member for education, Liberal Democrat Councillor David Ward has also backed the director.
"Diana Cavanagh is well thought of within many of our schools," he said. "She does have the confidence of our teachers and I think she is seen very
much as being a victim of the political leadership and not the enemy of the schools."
But he has no illusions about the nature of the report.
"There isn't any doubt that the view of Ofsted is that the authority has performed at a totally unacceptable level over a long period of time, " he
said.
He is quite clear that the blame lies with the politicians. He says it was they who made the decisions to fund education below the levels
recommended by Government, and to spend a lower than average percentage of this education budget on schools instead of central services.
"There is no doubt that the blame resides with the Labour group who have been in charge for the last ten years," he said. "They have failed to provide
the leadership.
"What runs through this report is the lack of support for schools, it is the schools that seem to have been let down. That is the message that runs
through every single page of this document."
He says that the performance of officers in the LEA cannot be fairly judged because of the conditions they have had to work under for the last few
years.
"In some ways I feel quite sorry for the officers and for the teachers and everybody else because they have had to do their best under very limited
resources."
Mrs Cavanagh said that funding was an area that she had no control over. Her staff had been working in a difficult climate and she welcomed the new
regime.
"The Council has said now that education is its highest priority," she said.
"For the first time it is backing that statement with additional money for schools, I am hopeful that this report can be a turning point. If you don't
think that money matters then ask the schools."
But the report has criticised more than just the funding of schools. For example there is the serious issue of support for pupils from ethnic
minorities - surely an issue for officers.
"That is undergoing a massive change at the moment and is therefore not as good as it could," said Mrs Cavanagh. "That is why it has been included."
And what about the accusation that few people in the education department had any clear grasp of the seriousness of the situation.
"I am very disappointed with that criticism," she said. "We entered the inspection in a very open and honest way. We took the views of our schools on
services and when they responded we drew up action plans and when the inspectors came we shared all that with them."
Improving standards in schools is her main priority and together with chief executive Ian Stewart she has set ambitious targets.
Within ten years they want to see the district reach the national average in terms of GCSE results. And within 20 they want to see it in the top 25 per
cent.
"That is a big challenge for the Council and that is a big challenge for the schools but this is the right moment," she said.
The first step will be a massive consultation exercise starting with
a series of meetings straight after half term continuing into the autumn. This will involve schools, teachers and children who are direct consumers of LEA services, such as those in pupil referral units.
"What we would want to emerge would be a real agreement about the priorities, the areas that we should focus our attention on."
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