FOUR PUPILS at Oatlands College, Dublin, have been expelled from the school after posting abusive remarks about their teachers on Facebook.
The school board of management moved to expel the four – all fifth-year students – at a specially convened meeting earlier this week.
All four have already served a 20-day suspension from the school.
The parents of the students in question are expected to appeal the expulsions under section 29 of the Education Act. Should this fail, the students will have to find another school in September.
The four posted what one source called “vile sexual allegations” about both a male and a female teacher at the school. They also made disparaging remarks about the work of one female teacher.
A teacher at the school alerted the principal, Keith Ryan, after reading the Facebook page. Mr Ryan could not be contacted last night. School board chairman Gerry Horkan – a local Fianna Fáil councillor – declined to comment.
The offensive comments were posted on a Facebook page created by one 17-year-old student and administered by three others. Last month more than 40 other students were given detention on a Saturday morning after tagging the offending material as a “like” on Facebook.
The Oatlands decision drew a mixed response last night. Some education sources said the school had little choice; others said the punishment was unduly harsh.
The appeal in the case will be heard shortly by a three-member section 29 committee, including a Department of Education inspector and two other experts. There will be separate hearings for each case.
Last year almost 50 per cent of such appeals taken by parents were successful. In all, 367 appeals were taken but close to half were withdrawn prior to hearing. In the remaining 218 cases, 95 were ruled in favour of the parents.
The Oatlands incident highlights the increasing difficulty posed by cyberbullying in schools. Six years ago the fee-paying Alexandra College suspended 14 students after they posted offensive material on Bebo.
Coincidentally, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn will this morning open an anti-bullying forum to explore new ways of tackling cyberbullying and homophobic and other forms of bullying in schools.
Oatlands College in Stillorgan is run under the aegis of the Christian Brothers. In recent years the all-male school has seen a surge in enrolment, which has grown to over 500 pupils.
Second-level students are routinely warned about the dangers of cyberbullying as part of the Junior Cert social, personal and health education curriculum, but it receives less attention in the Leaving Cert cycle.
