Rowoveranew teacherleadsto schoolboycott

November 1991

A rural primary school in Co. Wexford is being boycotted by parents in bitter row over the appointment of a new teacher.

Ballymurn National School, which opened a new extension on Monday, lay empty and silent this week as parents kept their children away in protest at a Board of Management decision on the filling of a full-time vacancy.

The favoured choice of parents and parishioners, a substitute teacher who has been working in the school since September, was overlooked in favour of another candidate.

Mr Gerry Normoyle, who was hired to fill a maternity leave vacancy, had the respect of everyone in the parish, according to an angry parents’ spokesman, who vowed that the boycott would continue until the board’s decision was rescinded.

At the centre of the row is a decision by Fr Sean Fortune, Chairman of the School’s Board of Management, to ask the Parents’ Council Chairman for his views on the appointment prior to the holding of interviews last Saturday.

Tony Byrne held a parents meeting and subsequently sent a letter to Fr Fortune, signed by the parents of children in Mr Normoyle’s class. In it, Mr Normoyle was described as an excellent teacher who had brought about a huge improvement in his pupils during his short time in the school.

‘We believe that the reference was then misconstrued as a canvas, and used to disqualify him at the interview,’ said the parents’ spokesman.

The belief is confirmed by a letter sent to Ballymurn Parents Association Secretary, Mary Grannell, from the Secretary of the Co. Wexford Parents’ Association, outlining the concern of Ballymurn Principal, Mrs Mary Bishop, that the parents were interfering in the appointment of a teacher.

There were six candidates for the job and parents reacted ‘with utter disgust’ when they were notified that the job was to go to another candidate. They held an emergency meeting in the local hall on Sunday morning, and another meeting, attended by Fr Fortune, on Sunday night.

On Monday night, Fr Fortune and the Principal declined to meet the full body of parents as arranged, but a village meeting went ahead, at which a decision was taken to withdraw all financial support to the school and church.

The Parents Association had assisted with fundraising for the new school extension, which should have been a cause of celebration when it opened on Monday.

Ballymurn parents now want the appointment decision reversed and a new set of interviews held. ‘We believe that the original interviews were not conducted in an open manner and that they should now be conducted again to give everyone a fair chance,’ said the spokesman.