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Academics voice their support of Heathfield High School Principal Wesley Neumann
By Opinion
School education has been at the forefront of responses to the pandemic.
The sector has had to make hard life-and-death decisions about the health and safety of our school communities â our students, staff, and parents.
In mid-2020, after an initial period of complete lockdown, schools and school authorities in the Western Cape and other provinces grappled with the question of the return of students and teachers to classrooms â do we return at all?
Parents, teachers and learners were confronted with uncertainty amid the risk of infection, illness and death.
Heathfield SGBâs bid to get WCED to drop charges against principal dashed
By Okuhle Hlati
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Cape Town â The Heathfield High school governing bodyâs (SGB) attempts to personally appeal for the new provincial Education head of department Brent Walters to consider dropping charges against principal Wesley Neumann were dashed yesterday.
Neumannâs supporters, including pupils and teachers, picketed outside the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) offices yesterday, where Neumann appeared for a disciplinary hearing.
Neumann is facing six charges for failing to carry out an instruction of the employer, after refusing to reopen the school at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
Cape Town principal faces disciplinary action over Covid-19 school closure
Heathfield High principal Wesley Neumanm refused to open his school. He now faces a disciplinary hearing.
The charges against him include a failure to carry out a lawful instruction of the employer, committing misconduct by allegedly encouraging personnel to not to report for duty, and discouraging the attendance of learners via social media platforms. Neumann is also accused of prejudicing the administration, discipline or efficiency of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), by distributing disrespectful pictures and/or videos on Facebook.
The
WCED’s head of department Brian Schreuder said the legal process must be allowed to continue unhindered by any party. During the height of the first wave of coronavirus infections, the principal supported by the student governing body (SGB) wrote to Schreuder explaining why the school could not open.