Parents and teachers at Manulla national school near Castlebar have been in dispute since last February, when the management board resigned amid allegations that the school was being mismanaged.
Locals claim that 43 children will have been withdrawn from the school when it reopens next month, leaving just 31 pupils to be taught by three teachers. Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader and a local TD, has estimated that as few as 20 pupils will return in September.
“Time has run out for the school and now it’s time for families to move on and leave it behind,” said one parent.
“This mass withdrawal will be devastating for the community. It’s not easy explaining to a young child that she has to leave her friends and school because she isn’t getting the best education and because it isn’t being managed properly.”
The row blew up in March after a walkout by the management board. The board said it was “no longer in a position to guarantee a healthy and safe environment within the school for the teachers or the pupils”.
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According to local sources, difficulties among the teaching staff dating back two years led to the standoff. Children claimed that the teachers were communicating with one another by passing notes instead of talking.
The parents’ association raised concerns about bullying among pupils and difficulties among staff members. Parents say that several pupils were bullied by one child and were also concerned about the high number of substitute teachers in the school.
“One of my daughters was taught by 11 substitute teachers over 12 weeks last year,” said one mother. “Her older sister has one year left in national school, but I knew she wouldn’t be ready for secondary school if we didn’t remove her now.”
Michael Neary, the local archbishop and patron of the school, has since appointed Brian Hynes, a Galway-based teacher, as manager.
Hynes issued a letter to parents in April stating that he would be holding staff meetings to resolve the issues. For many parents his efforts came too late and, by the end of the school term in June, some children had already been removed.
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In a statement, parents said that they were “upset and angry at having to move our children but we feel that we have been left with no choice. It is impossible to send our children into a school where all confidence in the ability of the management and teaching staff has been lost. We cannot stand by while the school deteriorates and continues its [refusal] to address fundamental issues.”
Hynes admitted that there were problems but said he will wait until September to analyse the extent of the boycott. “The majority of children are still on the rolls,” he said. “To my knowledge, there are only eight who have definitely gone. September 1 will tell the tale.”
Fionnuala Costello, the principal, is on maternity leave from September 1 and will be replaced by Helen Cunnane, who will be acting principal.
Hynes said the issues that upset parents precede his time and that mediation will be used to resolve them.
“It could be fair to say that there were staff difficulties in the school,” he said.
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“I don’t know if there have been difficulties between management and teachers.”
Manulla school should have had 76 pupils last September, making it eligible for an extra teacher. Parents now claim that the school is in danger of closure. Three other schools in the area are gaining pupil numbers because of the exodus.
The school snub would not be the first time that Mayo locals have voted with their feet. The word boycott was created after Captain Charles Boycott, the estate agent of an absentee landlord, was ostracised for refusing to cut rents in 1880.