A Co Kildare primary teacher refused to leave a school in the days after he was suspended by its board of management who could no longer tolerate his attitude towards the pupils and principal, an employment appeals hearing was told yesterday.
The chairman of the board of management of Holy Child National School, Naas, Mr John Nolan, said pupils and their desks and chairs had to be moved out of a class which the teacher, Mr Gerard Moore, refused to leave. He said Mr Moore continued to turn up at the school in subsequent days, accompanied by his father. They would sit in the corridor together, he claimed. Mr Timothy Moore, representing his son at the hearing, said they were not doing any harm. His son was showing the school he remained available for work.
Mr Nolan said that on January 14th Mr Moore came into class despite having been sent a letter the previous day informing him he was suspended. The school's principal, Ms Patricia Kennelly, asked Mr Moore to leave the class that morning, but he refused. The children were removed and spent the remainder of the day being taught in a sports hall, said Mr Nolan.
Mr Moore, of Lakeside Park, Naas, is claiming unfair dismissal against the board of management who dismissed him because of his "conduct and attitude".
There were two prominent incidents behind the decision to dismiss Mr Moore, according to the principal. Ms Kennelly said the first was when Mr Moore took more than 30 pupils to Fort Lucan Adventure Park without telling the school authorities. She also claimed he asked pupils to do a project on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer on sheets decorated with drops of blood, and got them to write essays about decapitated bodies.
The principal also claimed Mr Moore treated her with "disdain" and often stared at her to intimidate her. She told the hearing that after one dispute with Mr Moore he said to her: "I'll still be here in 15 years to haunt you."
Much of the evidence at the hearing yesterday concerned a meeting attended by Mr Nolan, Mr Moore, his father and Ms Kennelly on November 20th, 1998, in Ms Kennelly's office. During that meeting there were heated discussions about Mr Moore's position.
Mr Nolan claimed Timothy Moore launched a "tirade of personal abuse" at him when he refused to talk to him about the problems with his son. However, Timothy Moore said Mr Nolan was hysterical during the meeting and was pacing up and down the office. "You were losing the run of yourself," he told Mr Nolan.
"You are trying to suggest you were the good guy and I was the bad guy, but it was Greek against Greek," he said.
He also accused Mr Nolan of "bugging" the meeting with a hidden tape recorder. This was strongly denied by Mr Nolan.
Mr Timothy Moore said there was no other explanation for the detail Mr Nolan was able to recollect.
The hearing resumes in November.