At the end of the day, an employer has to have the right to dismiss someone for improper conduct. If she's not happy she has the right to a further appeal to Councillors. Personally I'd die of shame if I had promoted my own sister from a clerk's job to an 80 thousand pound taxpayer-funded post without proper interviews!

Talk about double standards after what Blair & Co. have been up to with their peerages for 'loans' sleaze or Tessa Jowell's indiscretions.No sackings there eh!All men are equal but some are more equal than others.

This woman has launched a so called blistering attack about the council for investigating her, what a blooming cheek! After she has appointed a relative to a post at the school, she has failed to deal with allegations that brought about the investigation in the first place and instead tried to deflect attention away from her possible wrong doings and towards the method and process of the investigation. Who does she think should investigate if not her employer? If you are not guilty then you have nothing to worry about!

"" Personally I'd die of shame if I had promoted my own sister from a clerk's job to an 80 thousand pound taxpayer-funded post without proper interviews! ""
Yes good point - but that blatant nepotism should have ensured that Jean Else fitted in well with the ethos of local, national and Euro Government in looking after ones own.
I look forward to such punishment being dished out to the likes of Messrs Kinnock and others who have "kept it in the family"

If this was a business, what the Dame did would to me, be expected. Here we have a failing school, if I was her, I too would have the people who you can trust most (in some cases) family.
Did her employing her sister stop the school failing ? By all accounts it did contribute to it's success.
This stinks of a stich up by the Council Pink Mafia prancing round their to-too's brassed off one of their own clones didnt get the Honour.

Lord..a real Dame, she'll be hero worshipped by other council pods in Canal Street.

How can one school justify a ??80, 000 management role? Just for internal affairs! There was a similar role for external affairs. Unbelieveable! No wonder the whalley range schools are full of uneducated, neglected, young people.

I need to give the reading public the truth.
My sister worked at the school for 11 years and had previously worked in business and commerce for over twenty five years. She had vast experience for her role and was not just a clerk. (Although many clerks have the skill and intelligence to train)
No-one from the LEA ever raised it as an issue and the LEA employed her to do additional work for them. Even the LEA personnel management team who we paid for advice new she was my sister and worked with her and never made a comment.
I never paid my sister ??80,000 she received the same money as people in similar roles. I thank her for her dedication and help in making Whalley Range the success it was. How many other relatives work in Manchester City Council organisations?

I watched this story with interest over the past few months and find it ludicrous that rate payers money can be used to pay wages and keep Dame Jean out of work for so long. She has done nothing wrong and the LEA have been fully aware of her sisters employment and salary which i understand is nothing like that quoted. Only recently the Head of Counthill School in Oldham appointed her daughter as Deputy Head there. Has she been suspended.No, why not because the City Council have an ulterior motive in getting rid of Dame Jean and letting the school fail again, perhaps they can then sell the land off for Housing being in such a prominent position??

Oooh, spelling mistake by teacher, on the ninth line, it is knew...not new.

Having worked at the school for a number of years whilst Jean Else was Headteacher, and also since her suspension I feel I am qualified to make comments and observations (unlike some people who are basing their opinion on what they read in the media, what they think they know and heresay) The school was, and I stress was, excellent. Staff and students were proud of the school and proud to be a part of it. Mutual respect was important, standards were important, behaviour, uniform, the environment all of which are part and parcel of an excellent school. It is in schools like this that students achieve their true potential. High standards ensure that students get a good education not just academically but to prepare them socially for the future. Unfortunately this has all changed. In the 16 months since Dame Jean has been suspended there has been a dramatic decline which is at the present is reaching an all time low. Behaviour is appalling, respect for staff is almost non-existant, truancy is common place, not only to school but to lessons, and discipline is a joke. Staff are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with student behaviour and therefore moral is extremely low. I'm not sure why the LEA launched what seems to have been a vendetta and I still cannot see what Dame Jean ever had to answer for, unless it was turning Whalley Range into a successful school that was a pleasure to work, and be educated in. What I am sure of is that the school is being ruined beyond recognition and that there must have always been an ulterior motive behind her suspension.

If the situation were not so sad it would be laughable we have even been likened to St Trinians recently. However, I there is nothing amusing about the loss of an outstanding Headteacher.