Cape Town – Westerford High School principal
Rob le Roux retires at the end of this
term amid allegations that he and
management poorly managed and tried
to bury a situation involving a prefect
who made a racist remark in front of
her classmates.
The prefect’s badge was taken away for two weeks, but according to a source, the incident has deeply divided the school, with some feeling she should not still be in a leadership position.
Questions have also been raised about the Rondebosch-based school’s treatment of the case after it emerged that the pupil’s parent supplies the school with a particular item of uniform, which Le Roux confirmed.
He said that the school treated
matters of this nature very seriously, and he was satisfied that the appropriate action had been taken.
According to the source, just before the winter school holidays, a prefect was reported for racism.
Le Roux yesterday said the incident occurred in January, when the prefect was in a lift club with a number of classmates and made a comment that was offensive to some people in the car.
He added that the comment was regarding “a racial group in general”.
According to Le Roux, it was in the spirit of “restorative justice” and the fact that “young people make mistakes” that it was decided to take away her prefect badge for two weeks.
But, according to the source, pupils and parents indicated in subsequent meetings that they were not happy with the sanction or how the matter had been dealt with.
Le Roux said the school governing body (SGB) had been consulted at all stages in a transparent process, and that at meetings, it was difficult to elicit a unanimous decision from the SGB.
He said he could not divulge the numbers of members who did not agree with the sanction.
“I feel that we dealt with the situation satisfactorily. Schools have racial utterances often; this is not an isolated incident.”
Luyanda Mpahlwa of the SGB said not all disciplinary matters required SGB involvement, or were brought to the SGB, as the school had internal disciplinary procedures.
“This was one matter which the school handled internally and served the sanctions that were found to be appropriate.
"Following discussions of the SGB, and given the seriousness of matters relating to infringements of this nature, a special sitting of the SGB took place and the matter was discussed in more detail.
"The meeting noted the procedures followed and accepted the decisions of the school management in this matter.
“During my first term as chair, I always emphasise the importance of open discussion. At the end of the day, the SGB takes decisions or will assume positions on matters brought to it after careful evaluation, and considering the implications for all concerned.
“The matter of the prefect making racist remarks fell into this category and the procedures followed by the school were considered in the same way. The school assured the SGB that adequate measures were put in place to deal with this particular matter and similar matters.”
The SGB and management continued to evaluate measures to deal with various aspects of school discipline, including racism, he added.
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: “Although the incident did not take place during school hours or on school property, the school investigated the matter in terms of their code of conduct.
“The SGB, who are responsible for school governance and discipline, applied a sanction which they deemed appropriate in the circumstances and based on the fact that the learner expressed sincere regret and remorse for her actions.”
“Regarding ‘unhappiness about the sanction’, I can assure you that no decision is ever taken at the SGB without opposing views, and this was no different.
"In all our efforts to ensure governance is maintained and adhered to, we seek to achieve consensus in our decision-making processes. Unanimous decisions do occur from time to time
as well, but this is not the norm,” he
said.