I AM horrified at the plan to turn three excellent York schools into an academy as reported a number of times in The Press.

I have an interest as both my children went to the nursery class at Knavesmire School, followed by Scarcroft Primary and then Millthorpe School. The three schools already have a tradition of cooperation and have great teachers and pupils. Becoming an academy is totally unnecessary.

The change to academy status means that schools can employ unqualified staff, change the curriculum, pay head teachers extremely high wages while reducing staff pay scales, and change entry requirements.

There can be knock-on effects on the local community, for example a lack of ability for local authorities to plan for school places in the future, increased traffic as pupils are driven in from outside the area, and the potential for local children to no longer be able to attend their nearest school and hence parents and children becoming less a part of their community.

The process of turning schools into academies is deeply undemocratic. It removes publicly-owned and controlled assets into a grey world of academy chains and charities, where there is less control and reduced oversight of taxpayers’ money.

It is essential that those who will be most affected by the changes to the schools, the staff, parents and pupils have a say in what happens, a ballot rather than a “consultation” must be carried out.

Sara Robin, Wentworth Road, York.