Closure plan for troubled Kerelaw

Glasgow City Council is to close part of a controversial school for some of Scotland's most vulnerable teenagers.

It follows a police investigation and a report by the Care Commission into the work of Kerelaw School in Ayrshire.

The school in Stevenston has been at the centre of a series of bad news stories in recent months.

Recently the council called in the Care Commission to probe claims that teenagers were subjected to "excessive or inappropriate" physical restraint.

Kerelaw caters for youngsters from all over Scotland with significant social, emotional, or behavioural difficulties.

A secure unit provides accommodation for 24 children and the open school can provide facilities for 50 others.

The Care Commission is due to publish its report on Friday.

At the same time, councillors will decide to close the open school where a total of 32 teenagers are currently housed.

A council report on the school, which employs 153 staff, also reveals that the council will seek an alternative care provider for the secure unit.

Councillors attending a meeting on Friday will be told that the Care Commission report "identifies some positive features but no key strengths" at the school.

The commission will serve notice that it intends to carry out monthly monitoring.

Twenty three staff have either been suspended or transferred following the recent controversy.

Now it has emerged that a 55-year-old man has been reported to the procurator fiscal in Kilmarnock.

The Scottish Executive recently announced that it was to extend the school to provide more secure places for teenagers in trouble with the law.

However, an executive source said it could be flexible and make alternative arrangements elsewhere.