‘WCED is waging a war on teachers’

Former high school principal Brian Isaacs refuses to go without a fight

TEACHERS ARE FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO TEACH. I WILL NOT LEAVE QUIETLY WHEN MY TEACHER COLLEAGUES ARE SUFFERING

DESPITE his request to appeal against his dismissal being denied, former South Peninsula High School principal Brian Isaacs has vowed not to leave quietly.

Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer dismissed Isaacs’s appeal after a lengthy dispute. They have been at loggerheads since 2005.

He was fired in June when the presiding officer at his second disciplinary hearing recommended he be dismissed after he was found guilty on two charges of disrespect or abusive or insolent behaviour towards officials. He was found not guilty of issuing an unlawful instruction to a staff member.

The refusal of the appeal effectively ends Isaacs’s more than 30-year tenure as head of the school.

“Over the past five years they waged a relentless battle against the school’s right to have a public address system,” Isaacs said yesterday.

“The WCED is waging a war against its teachers when it comes to ill-discipline in the schools because of teachers being afraid to transgress the plethora of rules governing teachers. Teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to teach. I will not leave quietly when my teacher colleagues are suffering.”

The Cape Argus is in possession of a report with the MEC’s finding, which was sent to Isaacs’s lawyers.

In the report, Schäfer based her findings on the presiding officer’s conclusion.

The finding stated that the relationship between Isaacs and the WCED had broken down.

“He (Isaacs) had been found guilty of assaulting a pupil, of humiliating pupils and of the use of derogatory language towards pupils,” the report reads.

“Although it was argued that he was remorseful, this remorse does not seem to appear to be genuine.

“He had not apologised to any of the pupils or parents before the hearing.”

According to Schäfer’s report, the presiding officer pointed out that, as a principal, Isaacs was expected to have better insight into what kind of behaviour would be unacceptable.

“The department has a constitutional obligation towards pupils, educators and parents, the observation of which will always be uncertain and unpredictable with Isaacs remaining in charge of a school,” the report read.

A parent of a former South Peninsula High pupil, Christopher Bezuidenhout, wrote to the Cape Argus expressing his dismay at the dismissal of the appeal.

“It was a sad and disgusting day when the principal of South Peninsula High, Brian Isaacs, was dismissed on September 9, two days short of his 62nd birthday. Isaacs is a man of vision and integrity who saw potential in all the students who passed through South Peninsula High School in the past 39 years service of excellence. He served as a principled teacher.” –