Romesh Rangathan critical of West Sussex council after child's school placing
The comedian Romesh Ranganathan has hit out at West Sussex County Council after his youngest son did not get offered any of his preferred choices in his secondary school placement.Mr Ranganathan said he had emailed the council six times after his son was placed in a school "on the other side of town", and not at the same school as his elder brother. He said he did not get a response from the council so he contacted his local MP, who told him they would look into it, but he was told "they can't do anything about it".A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council (WSCC) said: "We don't comment on individual matters, but we acknowledge the disappointment when students cannot be placed at their first choice."
'More than disappointing'
Mr Ranganathan, who hosts A League of Their Own and a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2, said he was particularly angry as his elder son was already at the school the family had selected as his youngest son's first choice.Taking to social media, he said: "It's more than disappointing."He said he had emailed the council six times but had had no response. Taking his case to his MP, Mr Ranganathan said: "I wait two week, they come back and say 'West Sussex has looked into it. They can't do anything. They have conducted an investigation into their placement procedure and found it satisfactory'."I bet they have," Mr Ranganathan said."It's not the football, it's my son's school placement."We have to go on the waiting list and see what happens."
The council spokesperson said: "We will always work with families to ensure a suitable school placement can be found."On Wednesday, WSCC said 91.1% had been offered their first preference school and 98.6% of all applicants were offered a place at one of their three preferences.
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