The Waltham Forest Guardian editor says: OUR leading councillors are now describing the school meals furore as "media disinformation".

So they - and our readers - should consider this: In January, officers reminded headteachers that Waltham Forest Catering Service (WFCS) was nearing the end of its current contract with schools and told that it was running at a loss.

They were informed that the service would close in April unless the participating schools each chipped in enough to cover the losses (around £200,000, until April 2008).

This the schools had to agree, since there was no time to do anything else.

Since then, the relationship between heads and council officers has been stormy. The heads were presented with three options: Managing their own kitchens and the staff; forming groups with a hired employee to manage the kitchens, or finding an outside contractor.

There was no mention of keeping WFCS open.

The headteachers questioned this, and the possibility of retaining the service, but with schools shouldering the risks, was added as a fourth option.

Since then, the headteachers' body has been approaching contractors to find if one is prepared to take over WFCS, with no sign of success.

A few days before Cllr Clyde Loakes made his town hall steps announcement, a packed meeting of head teachers met officers. It was made clear that a plan must be firmed up by the end of July to allow time to make new arrangements.

Again, all reliable sources say there was no mention of an extension of the subsidy.

On Wednesday last week, the council sent a letter to schools to be distributed to parents. That letter blamed the schools and "disinformation" for the current situation.

The head teachers refused to distribute it.

On Thursday at the town hall, Cllr Loakes and his deputy Keith Rayner, again talking about "media disinformation", announced that the school meals service would now be subsidised for a further year, until April 2009.

On Friday a revised letter in their name was sent to schools for distribution. It did not mention the extension of the subsidy.

At no stage during this fiasco has the council involved governing bodies to tell them what was going on, nor has it given information to parents until now.

The entire affair has been grossly mismanaged.

What Cllrs Loakes and Rayner should be saying to everybody - the dinner ladies, the head teachers, the governing bodies and the parents - is: "Sorry, this has been a mess, now let's start again with more openness and honesty".