Roosevelt High School has responded to allegations made by IOL where, in an article, it claimed teachers were subject to emotional torture at the school.
According to the article, teachers were instructed to return to duty ahead of the Department of Educations announcement to return on 1 February. One teacher said to the news website that teachers were subject to emotional torture almost every day of school. This teacher, who spoke in anonymity, went on to say the school was run like a private business and management had no regard for rules and regulations prescribed by the Department of Education, adding they are led by bullies and think that they hold more authority than the department itself.
However, in a statement issued by the school, its School Governing Body (SGB) said together with the Department of Education, they investigated these allegations and found them to be untrue. They cited these sources’ claims as mostly hearsay, and added they were not in attendance at a staff meeting held on 21 January. A record of the staff meeting in question is said to have been noted by the SGB and in it the principal said he understood the current situation was of the risk situation. He also added that no educator was forced to return to school earlier, however, it was advantageous in order to form part of the discussions regarding the operations and planning around the 2021 school year.
Also written in the statement, the SGB said there have always been channels in place to assist staff members with grievances and were disappointed that the staff members, who made these allegations against the school, chose to approach the media rather than following internal channels.
