A top judge has raised concerns that pupils at a school which is subject of a tug of war between its governing body and Leicester City Council have been forgotten amid the legal wranglings.
Governors at Uplands Junior, in Highfields, have launched a legal battle against the council's seizure of control at the school following months of internal rows between them.
A judicial review is now taking place in London's High Court to
decide if the council's intervention into the school's management is unlawful.
However, speaking in court yesterday, senior judge, Mrs Justice Thirlwall told both sides: "What is conspicuous in its absence from the court papers is any reference to any of the real affects on the children's learning.
"It is really a rather important and surprising feature of this case."
The council suspended the head teacher of Uplands Junior Dr Timothy Luckcock, cancelled the governing board's budget and announced plans to appoint additional governors in September.
Council officers claimed governors failed to comply with a warning notice issued by the authority in July, which asked it to deal with "a serious breakdown in the way the school was being led and managed".
Barrister Paul Greatorex, representing the governors, argued in court yesterday that the board had tried to avoid litigation for the good of pupils.
He said a wedge had been driven between the board and staff over plans to restructure the school, which would see eight teaching assistants made redundant and replaced with what he described as "better qualified" teachers.
Staff staged walkouts and unions objected to the overhaul.
An independent report into alleged misconduct recommended that eight members of staff face disciplinary proceedings, the barrister added.
Mr Greatorex said the council issued the school with a warning notice on July 12 ordering it to stop certain staff disciplinary procedures and to reinstate four suspended members of staff within 15 days.
A third requirement was to "engage and communicate" with the council "particularly with regard to employment matters."
The board then received notice from the council in September that it had failed to comply with this final demand and telling them that head teacher, Dr Timothy Luckcock, and the school's delegated budget would be suspended, the barrister said.
Mr Greatorex said the council had effectively bowed to "union demands" for Dr Luckcock to be suspended in order to keep the peace and that it later took no action against the other staff.
He said that the requirement to "communicate and engage" with the council was not "sufficiently specific" and that when governors asked for clarification none was given, making its later steps unlawful.
But Clive Sheldon QC, for the council, said the requirement was "clear, capable of measurement and assessment but also told the governing body what the local authority wanted them to do."
Mr Sheldon said the council had always acted in good faith, in pupils' interests, and became concerned that the chair of governors, Abid Matak, had been appointed after his previous removal from the board by the local authority.
The governors, however, insist that there was nothing wrong with Mr Matak's re-appointment.
Dr Luckcock, who was also represented as an interested party, remains suspended from the school but has lodged a formal grievance.
Before reserving her judgment until a later date, Mrs Justice Thirlwall observed that the heavy legal costs of the acrimonious fight could well have been more usefully employed for the good of the school, which currently has 16 class teachers.
She said: "I don't know how much money has been spent on this, but I do think it would have paid for a lot of staff."
After the hearing, Leicester City councillor Vi Dempster, assistant city mayor responsible for children's services, said:"The measures we have put in place at the school have always been carried out in the children's best interests and for the benefit of pupils, staff and the wider school community. We hope that the court will recognise that."
