Ticked-off school expels teen for vandalising spycam in clock
A SECURITY camera concealed in a classroom clock at a Cape Town private school is at the centre of a messy court battle.
Trouble started in July when a group of Grade 11s at Riverside College, Burgundy Estate, dismantled the clock to “see the camera inside”.
Two pupils admitted to the offence but one 16-year-old boy denied any involvement.
He was charged with vandalism and theft, but his mother, a magistrate, challenged the lawfulness of the investigation and disciplinary process.
She also complained to the Western Cape education department, but the school expelled the teenager in August.
His parents asked the High Court in Cape Town to compel the school to allow the boy to write this month’s examinations, and to accept and mark his classwork, as well as his assignments and projects.
They also demanded that the school be interdicted from discriminating against him.
Elana Edwards, the owner of the 160-pupil school, its management committee and principal Dave Swart were hauled before court.
In an affidavit, the boy’s mother said: “His expulsion from school, in the third term of this crucially important year of secondary schooling, the year in which most groundwork for the matric is laid, is extremely prejudicial to him.
“He will fall behind if he does not return to school as soon as possible, and his results for this year are going to suffer.”
Edwards said the boy was disruptive in the school’s 11-strong Grade 11 class and the business studies teacher struggled to control him.
“Examples would be to sing during her presentations to the class, unbutton his shirt exposing his stomach and chest and remove his tie,” Edwards said in court papers.
“He will often use prostitution or drugs as examples of business . . . . [He] would say anything is legal until you get caught.”
Acting Judge Penelope Magona granted an interim order allowing the boy to return to school. The matter will be heard in full on November 15.