FOUR governors have resigned from the board of a troubled special school in Bromsgrove because of a lack of support and unfair criticism from County Hall, the Advertiser/Messenger can exclusively reveal.

One, Tory county councillor and vice chairman of the board, June Longmuir (Broms-South) insisted each governor had acted individually in deciding to step down from the board of Redgrove Senior School, at Stoke Works.

Reluctant to go into detail, two to whom we spoke to, indicated their positions had become untenable due to a lack of support from county council bosses.

The other three resignees are the chairman, Conservative district councillor June Griffiths, Karen Lumley, the Tory prospective parliamentary candidate for Redditch, and Yvonne Scott, a former chairman of the board of visitors at Brockhill prison.

A source told the Advertiser/Messenger yesterday (Tuesday) that a fifth resignation cannot be ruled out.

Cllr Griffiths said she remains strongly committed to the school, its aims and praised the hard working head Ian Taylor.

But she added: "I did not feel I was getting the support of the Local Education Authority or receiving any acknowledgement for the work we were trying to do."

Cllr Longmuir is a former teacher with many years' experience and was, until recently, education portfolio holder in the county council's cabinet.

She had been a governor for five years. She said Redgrove, which caters for youngsters with emotional and behavioural problems, has been dogged by major problems for the past 18 months.

These include the school twice being put into special measures, serious senior staffing problems, and financial difficulties.

She said the governors have also come in for unfair criticism from inspectors, which she felt was unjustified in view of the lack of support they were getting from a number of county council departments.

Redgrove will move to Redditch later this year when it is set to take on a new name and a new identity.

Another governor, Labour district councillor Sean Shannon, said Miss Longmuir had done much to bring about improvements to the school.

No one at Worcestershire County Council was available for comment.