‘Atmosphere in school toxic to your health’

A TEACHER who publicly challenged the manner in which her union, the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, was conducting a national dispute two years ago, was immediately ostracised and bullied by a majority of colleagues.

Patricia O’Shea’s letter to a newspaper precipitated a hostile reaction from fellow teachers and led to threatening phone calls to her home. The anonymous calls were later traced by gardaí to Cork secondary school Mount Mercy College on Model Farm Road, where she had worked for 20 years.

The English and music teacher, shunned by most of her staff room colleagues, was forced to resign amid vicious, unfounded, rumours she was providing a grinds service while on sick leave and that she had recorded private telephone conversations.

Mrs O’Shea, from Ovens, Co Cork, sued the school management for constructive dismissal in what was believed to be a landmark case of a teacher taking an action for bullying. The startling revelations emerged during an Employment Appeals Tribunal, which sat for 11 days over a year-long period from April 2002.

In its final summing up, just published, the tribunal team noted the evidence of an independent witness, a teacher who “painted a harrowing picture of the isolation” which Mrs O’Shea suffered when she visited the school’s staff room in March 2001 in a bid to resolve the dispute. The atmosphere at the meeting was “icy” while teachers, who had been friends, ignored her.

Mrs O’Shea said the experience had a severe adverse psychological effect on her. She had described it as “the lowest time” in her life.

She felt that her relationship with the principal Mary Murphy and staff, some of whom she had known for a long number of years, had completely broken down. The tribunal members noted that Mrs O’Shea’s level of distress, at that time, was such that her doctor strongly advised her to resign. The GP had suggested the workplace atmosphere was so hostile, it would be “toxic to her health.”

In her action, the teacher claimed school management failed to protect her against bullying and harassment.

Mrs O’Shea had been the school steward for seven years but had decided to relinquish the position in 2000 due to ill-health. She was replaced by two other teachers in the school, one of whom, Sally O’Donovan, a branch organiser with ASTI, was central to the dispute. She asked Mrs O’Shea to withdraw allegations of bullying and harassment.

School management, accused by Mrs O’Shea of failing to provide a working environment free from harassment, vigorously defended the action. The tribunal found the principal had not treated all parties involved in the dispute in an “even-handed manner.” By a majority decision, the tribunal ruled the school management failed to discharge its duty to promptly and reasonably investigate Mrs O’Shea’s grievances.