Expelled students ‘denied support’

SCHOOLS which allow expelled students to return are not being given proper support by the Department of Education, secondary managers have claimed.

Of 19 appeals heard against expulsions of post-primary students last year, seven were upheld and the students allowed return. Twelve appeals were rejected and a further 13 were resolved or withdrawn before being heard by an appeals committee.

The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), representing half of the country’s 750 second-level school boards, said help is often not given when students return.

“Appeals committees often recommend supports to help the student and prevent disruption, but they’re not always forthcoming from the department, so schools are left in the same position they had in the first place,” said JMB general secretary George O’Callaghan.

He said the supports include extra teaching hours or individual tuition to keep some students out of certain class groups or to help them with learning difficulties.

But the Department of Education said recommendations for support are not a pre-condition for a school taking the student back.

“The school can apply for resources on the basis of the child having emotional or behavioural problem and it is dealt with along with other applications,” a spokesperson said.

Parents can appeal suspensions, expulsions or a school’s refusal to enrol their child under the 1998 Education Act. This has forced school boards to tighten up behaviour and admission policies, but also made them more conscious of due process in disciplinary matters.

Of 74 appeals lodged against second-level schools last year for refusing to enrol students, 45 were withdrawn or resolved before being heard.

By mid-December, 10 were still pending, 14 appeals had been upheld and five were rejected.

All but two of the 52 appeals at primary level involved schools refusing to enrol children. Of 45 cases decided, 17 were upheld, five rejected and 23 were resolved or withdrawn.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation said many appeals involved schools lacking resources to help children with special needs. The union was angered last week when Education Minister Noel Dempsey said some schools refuse children with special needs because they do not want them.