In a pre-recorded speech broadcast to teachers at schools across the region, head of Educational Services Terry Lanagan boasted about the council’s Facebook reach and reportedly told staff to ignore stories in the local papers.

The issue was flagged up to the Reporter by a teacher who heard the speech and said Mr Lanagan’s comments about the local press were ‘very unnecessary and very petty’.

We asked for an interview with Mr Lanagan about his remarks and this was the response from the council’s communications department: “Executive Director Terry Lanagan delivered a 23 minute update to all education staff to welcome them back for the 2015/16 academic year.

“He used 38 seconds of this message to reflect on the fact that the council’s nationally recognised improvements were at times not reflected in the local press. On the positive the council’s Facebook page was now promoting this progress to a weekly audience bigger than the circulation of all the local newspapers combined. We are sorry if this information caused distress to one of our 1,670 education staff.” The three local papers in the area – the Reporter, the Clydebank Post and the Lennox Herald – have more than double the amount of Likes on Facebook than the council.

Councillor George Black, who has been an outspoken critic of what he sees as ‘spin’ from the council’s communications department in the past, said: “This administration exists in a dimension which is best described as virtual reality. A person or body can be described as ‘well adjusted’ when they can accept criticism as well as they accept praise, this maxim obviously does not apply in West Dunbartonshire.” “The most worrying aspect of this is contained in the line ‘We are sorry if this information caused distress to one of our 1,670 education staff’: I have been informed in the past that staff at briefings have been instructed not to speak to the press and would imagine that efforts will be made to identify the whistleblower - and not to compliment the person I would assume.

Educational Services Committee convener, Councillor Michelle McGinty, said she believed Mr Lanagan was trying to boost teachers’ morale rather than run down the local press.

She said: “I think we should be working together. I know there are times when the local press need to report negative stories and there are also times when we need to work together to show how good the kids are doing.

“It we start getting into a tit for tat that’s not positive for any of us.” Director of the Scottish Newspaper Society, John McLellan, said: “It says a lot about Mr Lanagan’s attitude to openness and accountability when he tells people to seek information about his services from a source which he presumably controls. When the First Minister herself acknowledges there is not enough information about children’s progress in both primary and secondary schools, I wonder if Mr Lanagan has got something to hide.

“I hope the Dumbarton Reporter continues to subject the performance of area’s schools and their director to close scrutiny. It will be the only way to find out what’s really going on.”