Education chiefs were told they were playing with children's lives by planning a radical shake up of special needs schools.
A panel of council bosses faced a grilling from tearful parents of Kingsdown School pupils at a consultation meeting over its future last night.
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One angry mother said they were "asking for suicides" by planning to shift special needs children into a new school when aged 14.
Other parents - including some who broke down in tears - demanded more time to debate the plans, saying the ten-week consultation period was not long enough.
One told the packed meeting at the school in Snakes Lane, Eastwood: "We are talking from the point of view of our children, real people with real problems and emotions."
Southend Council is proposing a shift in services at the borough's five special schools. It also wants to build four new specialised centres in mainstream schools, costing £1.4million.
Parents at Kingsdown fiercely oppose the plans.
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2003
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