Career
She is a bi-weekly columnist for the Manchester Evening News. Jean Else took over Whalley Range High School in Manchester in 1994 when the girls" comprehensive school had the worst truancy rate in England and Wales. During her headship, truancy was cut to below the national average, pupil numbers were almost doubled, and GCSE results improved from 16% to 34% of pupils getting the top grades.
School inspectors called it "a very good school with many strengths and few weaknesses.. exceptionally well led and very efficiently managed and administered".
Else spent 10 years turning the school into one of the most high profile schools in Manchester. In November 2004, however, she and several other senior staff members were suspended from duty, pending an investigation by Manchester City Council after allegations were made by the Audit Commission following their own two-year investigation.
She is the only woman created a Dame (of any order of British female knighthood) to date to have the honour revoked. The only other woman to ever be stripped of any British or Commonwealth honour is Vicky Pryce, who was stripped of her Central Bank after a criminal conviction.
Else was a trustee of the Imperial War Museum from 2003 to 2007.
