Courts

Templeogue College teacher labels principal ‘a corridor angel and an office devil’

Jennifer Clancy, a former part-time Spanish teacher at the Spiritan-run school, was giving evidence to the Workplace Relations Commission

A former part-time Spanish teacher at the Spiritan-run south Dublin boys’ secondary school, has accused its principal of being 'a corridor angel and an office devil'. Photograph: David Sleator/The Irish Times

Stephen Bourke
Thu Apr 25 2024 - 11:53

A teacher who quit the prestigious Templeogue College in south Dublin after accusing its principal of retaliating against her for putting her name to a collective staff grievance has called her ex-boss “a corridor angel and an office devil”.

Jennifer Clancy, a former part-time Spanish teacher at the Spiritan-run south Dublin boys’ secondary school, concluded her testimony on Wednesday, her third day giving evidence to the Workplace Relations Commission on statutory complaints in which she has alleged whistleblower penalisation over a grievance lodged by a group of 11 school staff in the spring of 2022.

Ms Clancy maintains she was penalised after she and her colleagues raised concerns about health and safety, the loss of staff facilities and student discipline, including an alleged assault on her and the secret filming of a female teacher’s “backside”.

She said students had begun to feel they had “the run of the place” after a number of serious incidents which were, in Ms Clancy’s opinion, not properly dealt with by the school principal, Niamh Quinn.

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Ms Clancy said the Spiritan-run school did not feel safe and she likened it to a “ticking time bomb” where teachers were waiting for the next serious incident to happen.

She has accused principal Niamh Quinn of targeting her where she was “vulnerable” by altering timetables ahead of the new term in September 2022 so that she would have to teach in the afternoons – upending arrangements to facilitate childcare which Ms Clancy said she had had agreed with the school’s previous principal before she was hired.

“The fact the principal had two fully qualified Spanish teachers, two teachers well-equipped to teach those afternoon classes really highlights the principal was willing to go to great lengths to penalise me,” she said.

The school denies the claims, and Ms Quinn, through lawyers for Templeogue College, has denied the suggestion that she acted in a “frenzied” or aggressive manner when Ms Clancy and her ASTI shop steward raised the issues at an August 26th meeting that year.

Neither woman “covered [themselves] in glory” on that occasion, the school’s barrister has submitted.

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In her evidence, Ms Clancy said Ms Quinn was a “corridor angel and an office devil”, adding: “What I saw on 26 August in that office will stay with me forever.”

“Ms Quinn’s demeanour would be – this is what I had experienced before signing the collective grievance – very affable, we got on well. When I sent that document, everything changed,” she said. “There was another side to the principal which was extremely unsavoury,” she added.

Giving evidence yesterday, ASTI school steward Cormac Duignan, who had been in that meeting as a note-taker, said that when Ms Clancy stated that she felt she was being victimised, Ms Quinn cut across her, accused her of “making faces” at the deputy principal, and told her to “show some respect.”

“[Ms Quinn] was getting increasingly agitated, more and more aggressive, that culminated towards the end in shouting,” Mr Duignan said. “It was the worst, it was appalling,” he said.

When it was put to him that Ms Quinn would contend Ms Clancy was “aggressive” Mr Duignan said: “I wouldn’t agree. Ms Clancy did not raise her voice in any point.”

Notice of disciplinary action served following the August 26th 2022 meeting was cited by Ms Clancy’s lawyers as a further act of penalisation. Mr Duignan said it seemed to him this was “a continuation of the end of that meeting, where the principal was [in a] very agitated, frenzied state”.

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Ms Clancy filed a grievance over the notice of disciplinary proceedings. Although the collective grievance taken by the group of teachers concluded with an agreed outcome, Ms Clancy’s proceeded through four formal stages before a panel concluded following a final hearing in November 2022 hearing that it was unable to determine the validity of her claims.

The tribunal has given leave to the complainant side to write to the independent chairman of the final-stage grievance panel asking him to appear and give evidence. Adjudicator Breiffni O’Neill said it was “extraordinary” that it appeared the chairman had written to the Joint Managerial Body, the representative organisation for religious-run schools, seeking “guidance” on Ms Clancy’s case without copying the correspondence to her trade union.

“You might tell him if he doesn’t agree to attend, I will be issuing a subpoena,” he told Ms Clancy’s barrister, Conor Duff BL, who appeared instructed by Doyle Legal Solicitors.

Meg Loughnane, who was the Spanish department head in the 2022/23 school year, said she told Ms Clancy the new timetable was most likely “an error” and suggested she speak to Ms Quinn to have it rectified. Ms Loughnane said the classes had been moved around “like Tetris” so that it was “very afternoon-heavy”. The new arrangements saw her losing a group of 5th years she had been teaching since they entered Templeogue College, she added.

Ms Loughnane said she disagreed with the principal’s position that the other two Spanish teachers available, who were both native speakers, had bad references and weren’t appropriate to teach students preparing for their Leaving Certs and that Ms Clancy was therefore required for the exam classes.

Ms Clancy has alleged that after she lodged the collective grievance that her reappointment form was doctored with Tipp-Ex to state she was employed on a fixed-term basis again instead of making her a permanent employee for the school year starting September 2021.

The school’s position is that Ms Clancy was not approved for a contract of indefinite duration at the time, was not told she was on a permanent contract, and that an administrative error had occurred.

Ms Loughnane played a WhatsApp voice note from her phone dating from June 2021 for the adjudicator. In it, Ms Clancy was heard to say: “Just got the call there from NQ; I got the job.”

In a second voice note played out by Ms Loughnane, Ms Clancy recounted Ms Quinn telling her: “Now our annual interviews are over and you’re a permanent member of staff, next time we’re having a chat, it’ll be over wine and tapas.”

Another Spanish teacher, Jean Costello, told the WRC she had seen Ms Clancy’s CV and cover letter when the complainant applied to the school in 2018. At that point, she said, Ms Clancy had “made it clear” that she was “only available for mornings”, a position she said had been accepted by Ms Quinn’s predecessor, who arranged a job-share, she said.

Ms Costello said the school’s formerly “thriving” Spanish department was now “chaotic, shambolic, an embarrassment” following the loss of Ms Clancy and another teacher. She denied the suggestion that Ms Clancy had been able to take morning classes only because of a “local arrangement” among the teachers.

Cross-examination of the three witnesses called by the complainant side is being held over until an adjourned date in June, which is subject to confirmation by the WRC. Three more days of in-person hearings are to be set aside for the case, as well as a second case management videocall.

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