School principals withhold forms in protest action

HUNDREDS of school principals have stopped sending important paperwork to the Department of Education until a row about more than €2 million owed to them is resolved.

The dispute between the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members working in vocational schools and community colleges, and secretarial staff of Vocational Education represented by IMPACT, centres on an administration fee attached to payments to all schools for supervision and substitution agreed in 2003.

Because the 240 schools in the sector are managed by the local VECs, disputes have arisen in some areas about whether the money should be paid to the principal or secretarial and administrative staff. In a 400-student school, it is worth about €2,000 a year and an estimated €2m is outstanding since the dispute began four years ago.

The union has told principals to withhold forms normally sent to the Department of Education at this time of year with student numbers, timetables and subject choices for the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams.

At its annual conference yesterday, the Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, which is a sub-committee of the union, described it as a regrettable but necessary move.

“This reluctant step was not taken lightly, but it reflects the enormous frustration over a lengthy period trying to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion,” said association president Kevin O’Meara, principal of Plunkett College in Dublin.

“The payment should be made to those who administer the scheme and in most instances this is the principal and deputy principal. Our colleagues in the other second-level sectors have been receiving this payment for five or six years,” he said.

The dispute has been referred to the Labour Relations Commission and a hearing is expected to take place shortly.

Mr O’Meara also expressed frustration at the torturously slow pace of talks between the TUI, VEC managers and the Department of Education to restructure the further education sector, as most vocational schools and colleges also offer Post Leaving Certificate courses in this area.

He said principals are concerned about the significant increase in workload arising from new quality assurances procedures expected of them.