A teacher at a Dublin secondary school has claimed at the Workplace Relations Commission that she was unfairly penalised by the school principal to punish her for signing a collective grievance, which raised staff concerns about student discipline problems and other matters.
Jennifer Clancy told a hearing that the principal of Templeogue College, Niamh Quinn, designed a timetable that deliberately conflicted with Ms Clancy's family circumstances in order to punish her for having put her name to the grievance document.
The WRC heard that Ms Clancy joined Templeogue College in 2018 having previously worked at a school in Sutton.
A teacher of Spanish, she took a part-time job at Templeogue College because it was close to her house and working part-time there would enable her to balance work with caring for her two small children.
Ms Clancy said she had an agreement with Templeogue College that until her children were older she would be timetabled to work mainly morning hours so that she would be able to care for her children in the afternoon.
She said for four years this was the case.
The hearing, before Adjudicator Breffni O’Neill, heard that Ms Quinn was appointed principal of Templeogue College in 2019.
Ms Clancy said that initially she had a very positive working relationship with Ms Quinn who was of a similar age to her.
'A feeling of lawlessness'
According to evidence given at the hearing, by 2020 teachers at the school had serious concerns about a number of issues, among them a deterioration of discipline towards students.
Ms Clancy said there had been a severe drop in discipline standards and that this was a "really massive" issue for staff.
Outlining the circumstances which led to her and several of her colleagues signing a grievance, she said there was "a feeling of lawlessness" at the school and that staff did not feel safe.
Saying that students felt they "had the run of the place", she outlined an incident where a student threw a phone which hit her in the chest, and another where a student filmed a female teacher's bottom. On both of those occasions and on other occasions, she said teachers were concerned that students were not receiving appropriate sanctions.
Teachers at the all boys school were also concerned that a rest area which they had used to congregate during breaks was removed without consultation over the summer months and that CCTV was being used to monitor senior staff without their consent.
In February 2022 teachers submitted the collective grievance.
Ms Clancy told the WRC that she signed the document in order to bring about a better and safer working environment for the staff and for students, but she said there was "no way" she would have signed it had she known what she would have to endure as a result.
Ms Clancy said Ms Quinn took the complaint as a personal affront to her and that as a teacher on a reduced timetable for family reasons she was "an easy target".
Ms Clancy said that there was a complete change in the demeanour of the principal, and of how she treated her.
She said that the following August she received a timetable in keeping with that of previous years with her 11 hours clustered in the mornings and allocating to her the year groups that she had been teaching the previous year.
However, just days prior to commencement of the school year this timetable was radically altered. Ms Clancy was given afternoon classes on four out of five weekdays and allocated new year groups that she had not previously taught.
Ms Clancy told the hearing that she thought this was a mistake because it was so contrary to any timetable she had received before, but when she contacted the principal, Ms Quinn told her that the timetable was non-negotiable. She said Ms Quinn’s manner was "very curt and cold".
"This was a punishment," Ms Clancy told the hearing. "In my four years I had never been required to teach in the afternoon." At a subsequent meeting, Ms Clancy told the principal and deputy principal of the school that she felt she had been victimised as a result of signing the grievance complaint.
Describing this meeting, Ms Clancy said the principal was openly aggressive to her, and that she had never in her life been spoken to as she was on that day. She described how an autoimmune disease brought on by stress flared up, and that she was in a state of extreme stress.
"I had no childcare. Nobody to mind the kids," she said, adding that this was the whole point of her part-time contract.
She described the principal as "in a frenzied state" at this meeting and "shouting and aggressive". She said after the meeting she thought of resigning because she was so upset. The hearing heard that Ms Quinn will give a different account of this meeting.
'Absolutely gobsmacked'
Shortly after that meeting Ms Clancy went on sick leave and she received notice in the post of a disciplinary procedure being taken against her.
She told the WRC that she "was absolutely gobsmacked" and had no idea what the disciplinary procedure related to.
"I felt the principal was threatening my job, my future employability, and my reputation, and the fact that there was no detail as to what this related to was my main concern," she said.
Ms Clancy said she "was 100% sure that the principal was willing to use everything in her arsenal in retaliation for me having signed the grievance document".
Shortly before lunchtime, Adjudicator Breffni O'Neill interrupted proceedings to address Ms Quinn who was present. He said he had noticed her "smirking" more than once.
"I would remind you that this is a difficult process for Ms Clancy and it is not made easier by your facial remarks. I have noticed it a few times," he said, "and I won’t let it go again".
Formal grievance procedure
The tribunal heard of a formal grievance procedure that Jennifer Clancy initiated against the school. This procedure resulted hearings at various stages.
At one such one hearing, Niamh Quinn submitted school timetables which showed that in 2019 to 2020 school year Jennifer Clancy had in fact worked afternoons every weekday.
Jennifer Clancy told the WRC hearing that the timetables produced by Ms Quinn were "completely inaccurate". She said she had never taken the classes listed. Conor Duff BL, acting for Ms Clancy went through evidence from school software which appeared to support Ms Clancy's contention.
Jennifer Clancy said that that grievance hearing "turned into a circus".
Conor Duff read lines ostensibly from a Department of Education circular which Niamh Quinn had cited in a submission to this grievance hearing. The lines were highlighted in bold, underlined and italicised.
They read "while the principal will consider applications for timetable concessions, eg, mornings only or late start, it may not be possible to grant such requests. Acceptance of the offer of employment at the school cannot be conditional on management acceding to such requests".
Jennifer Clancy told the hearing that she had later Googled the lines but could not find them. She had looked at circular 54 which the lines had been attributed to by Ms Quinn and they were not in the circular.
"I don't understand why you would make up a quotation," she told the WRC.
The grievance procedure found against Ms Clancy.
Ms Clancy returned to work in December of 2022 after a period of sick leave.
In January of last year, Ms Clancy applied for leave of absence. After two months she was told approval was conditional on the school finding a replacement teacher. Ms Clancy said she queried the validity of this condition but received no response.
At 9am on 13 June, 2023 she wrote a letter of resignation.
"I couldn’t take any more", she told the tribunal. "I had been to hell and back. I was so sorry. I had a great relationship with the other teachers and the students."
In her resignation letter she said she would be moving to a school 1.5 km away and giving up a permanent and pensionable job.
"When I commenced my employment with Templeogue College, it was a vibrant school community, and a place that was thriving academically," she wrote.
Quoting directly from the findings of an independent mediator who had been brought into the school, she wrote that now "for nearly all of the 58 [teachers interviewed by the mediator] they feel the atmosphere is toxic to some degree. For many very toxic".
"It cannot be underestimated how traumatic their experience, their working environment, and how it impacts their personal lives."
"For many the style of management, especially from the Principal feels oppressive, unsafe and fear inducing.
"There is a strong sense in many that no major change of approach is likely in the Principal, and therefore the situation is intractable."
Ms Clancy told the hearing that four hours after she had sent her resignation letter she received an email from the principal congratulating her upon the approval of her leave of absence application.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
