Welsh teachers on spot

Governors at a Welsh infant school met on Friday to discuss the fate of two suspended members of staff following the threat of legal proceedings and strike action by a teaching union.

Kate Andrews, who has taught at Hendre Infants School in Caerphilly, south Wales, for 29 years, and her colleague Sharon Tyler, were suspended on the first day of term, accused of trying to undermine the authority of the school's head teacher.

The National Union of Teachers Cymru warned the school's governing body that the meeting was its "last chance" to avert legal proceedings.

Andrews has been working at the 181-pupil school since 1972 and Tyler joined the staff four years ago as a specialist teacher for the hearing-impaired.

Education on NY agenda

Mark Green, the clear favourite to succeed Rudolph Guiliani as major of New York City, is a liberal Democrat who has made education, and his independence from the city's powerful teaching unions, a central priority of his campaign.

Green, who won the city's Democratic primary last week, will face Republican billionaire media mogul MIchael Bloomberg in the election next month. The new mayor is set to take over on January 1st.

As the campaign continues, Mayor Guiliani has exempted education from the 15 per cent spending cuts which he has ordered for all city agencies.