This article is from page 8 of the 2007-04-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE Association Secondary Teach- ers in Ireland (ASTI) 1s today to be- gin legal action against the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, over the appointment of a school manager at Seamount Secondary School in ree
The Rescue Seamount Campaign and the ASTI last week accused the
minister of acting illegally by ap- pointing a school manager, instead of replacing the board of management at Seamount.
Both groups have accused the edu- cation minister of acting unlawfully in her decision to allow the board of management to be dissolved. Last Tuesday, they gave her seven days to withdraw her approval.
“This issue is not about the future
of the school. Even if the school is only opened for another 5 years, it is essential that there is a board of management,” said Jane Joyce of the Rescue Seamount Campaign.
“It gives parents a stake in how the school is run. When we sent our children here, we did so on the un- derstanding that there would be a board of management and that is not the case. This is not what we signed
up for,” she added.
The Rescue Seamount Campaign and ASTI have received separate legal advice suggesting that the min- ister has acted unlawfully in her de- cision to allow the school’s trustees, the Sisters of Mercy, to dissolve the board.
Responding, a Department of Edu- cation spokeswoman said that Minis- ter Hanafin acted lawfully in accord- ance with the 1998 Mercy Act.
“The Mercy Order, as patron of Seamount College, notified the min- ister of its decision not to appoint a new board of management when the term of office of the outgoing board expired,” said the spokeswoman.
“The Education Act 1998 provides that a patron may, subject to the ap- proval of the minister, appoint any person or body of persons as the patron thinks fit to perform the func- tions of a board of management.
‘As the patron had decided not to appoint a new board of management, the minister has, at the request of the patron, conveyed the necessary ap- proval, under section 16 of the Edu- cation Act, for the appointment of a manager to perform the functions of the board of management.”
The future of Seamount College has been in doubt since the Sisters of Mercy announced its intention to phase out the school over a period of five years, last October.
The Rescue Seamount Campaign has been appealing for the Sisters of Mercy to give them more time to ne- gotiate the construction of a new co- education school by the Department of Education in Kinvara.