LONG-SERVING school governors are furious about the way they were axed in an academy shake-up.

The row follows the creation of two academies in Maidstone, The Cornwallis and New Line Learning, earlier this month, to replace the existing Cornwallis, Oldborough Manor and Senacre schools.

But the shake-up has provoked anger among governors of the old South Maidstone Federation, some of whom were previously governors at Oldborough Manor and Senacre.

About a dozen of them were dismissed on August 31, the day before the new academy structure came into force.

They are angry at what they claim was the insensitive way their departure was handled, describing it as an "appalling" way of treating dedicated people.

But Dr Chris Gerry, chief executive of the Cornwallis/New Line Learning, said: "By supporting the academy proposal, they knew they would cease to exist on August 31."