This school principal went to the High Court to seek an order quashing the decision by the Board of Management of a national school from terminating her employment as a school principal and teacher.
The allegations against the school principal involved allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards two pupils, made against her by a special needs assistant. The school was a small one with only two teachers, including the principal.
The school principal had been dismissed in March 2018 and appealed the decision to the Disciplinary Appeals Panel. The Disciplinary Appeals Panel (DAP) recommended that the teacher be immediately reinstated to her position as principal. The Board of Management rejected this recommendation.
The teacher’s case to the High Court was that the investigation leading up to, and the decision to terminate her employment was fundamentally flawed and legally indefensible. The core of her argument, however, was that the failure by the Board of Management to give any, or any adequate, reasons for the decision to dismiss her was irrational and unreasonable.
She argued that there was no proper evaluation of the evidence against her, nor had she been told what allegations had actually been found as having been proven against her.
Thus, she argued that the decision was bad at law for having failed to giver reasons for the decision.
She also argued that the decision to ignore the recommendation of the DAP was bad at law having regard to the established case law as to the circumstances where a Board could lawfully depart from the recommendations of the DAP.
High Court Decision
The High Court, Barr J, held that the Board of Management had acted rationally and fairly in the investigation and disciplinary stage of the process.
Where it went wrong, however, was in engaging with the evidence against the Principal and deciding which, if any, allegations were proven against her. The Board had to engage with the evidence in a fair and rational manner and this could only be shown if they could give reasons for their decision.
They had failed to do this.
They also failed to give due regard to the recommendation of the DAP and there was no logical or constructive engagement with the DAP recommendation. For these reasons the High Court set aside the decision of the Board to terminate the Principal’s employment and quashed the decision.
You can read the full 50 page decision of Barr J here: C.D. and The Board of Management of a National School.