The head of a blundering private boarding school that closed with just two days’ notice has fled to Dubai – while parents frantically search for new schools for their children.
Executive headteacher Jonathan Harrison and his wife, Lou, jetted off on holiday just hours after mums and dads received confirmation of the senior school’s closure.
Shocked parents, who paid up to £36,000-a-year to send their children to Moorland School, in Clitheroe, Lancs., have branded Mr Harrison a ‘coward’.
One parent said: ‘The fact that he has run away, and no one can now contact him demonstrates the lack of integrity of Jonathan Harrison.
‘He has now gone on holiday to Dubai.
‘His actions speak so loudly. He is a coward.
‘If the reason the school couldn’t continue was purely down to VAT and rising costs, the man would be standing on the school’s front steps, doing everything possible to help parents find new schools for their children.
‘He has caused a lot of people a lot of heartache and he is never going to be accountable for his actions.’
The businesswoman said the school had been in decline for months because of poor management.
She added: ‘The children were denied basic educational tools and needs.
‘The school had a poor infrastructure because Harrison has bullied and intimidated so many staff, who then left.
‘It was a common occurrence that I would arrive at the school and see staff members in tears.
‘The teachers who left were not replaced because no one wanted to work there because Jonathan had a reputation of being a bully. He ran the school as a dictatorship.
‘Teaching standards then declined so parents began to withdraw their children and numbers dropped.
‘The school closing has nothing to do with the imposing of VAT, it is because of how poorly he ran the school.
‘He ran the school like he was selling unroadworthy second-hand cars.
‘Parents were fed up with him and voted with their feet. Numbers have been dwindling for months and months and months.
‘It has been a huge injustice for the children and the parents who have been hoodwinked because on the surface it is a great school.
‘Initially, you think it’s a beautiful setting, because it’s a very old school building with nicely manicured gardens.
‘It’s very seductive but it really isn’t.
‘He and his wife have a lot to answer for.’
Leonie, who had three daughters, said she was initially impressed by with the Moorland, but ‘cracks’ soon began to show with the school running out of paper and pens.
She said: ‘The dream that the school sold was amazing, and at first it was brilliant.
‘The children loved it, we loved it – we were all happy.’
In February, Leonie had a meeting with a school director after growing concerned over her children’s grades.
Leonie claimed the director told her: ‘The education can’t be that bad here, you’re still bringing your children in every day,’ before yelling: ‘”I don’t give a s*** about the education, but I do care about the money coming in. I want that money”.’
Parents were informed of the school’s closure after receiving an email from Mr Harrison, who has since quit as head and proprietor.
In the email, he apologised for the short notice, telling parents this ‘had been the hardest decision of my life’.
He said they had ‘looked strongly’ into keeping the school open until the end of the year, in July, but concluded it was ‘just not economically viable due to a combination of adverse political and economic factors’.
Mr Harrison blamed Labour’s controversial policies, including the 20 per cent VAT levy on private school fees and the hike in National Insurance for employers, for the closure.
But he also took a swipe at parents with outstanding fees who had failed to pay up, saying they, too, were responsible for the school’s dire financial situation.
Yesterday, a Range Rover, Porsche and camper van were parked in the driveway of Mr Harrison’s £1million detached home.
Neighbours said the Harrisons were on holiday.
