Despite objections and not following due process, Sue Parry the principal of Dayspring Cambridge International Study Centre is determined the school will remain open.
The record paid the school a surprise visit on Wednesday to hear Parry’s side of the story and to investigate the validity of the neighbours’ objections. Although it was not break time neither the end of the school day the noise levels were minimal and from the highest vantage point on the property it seemed unlikely that any of the neighbours’ privacy are being invaded. The reports of the neighbours could not be rejected though on the grounds of only an hour’s observations by the record.
According to Parry she had no choice but to purchase the property and start operating regardless of not having applied with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) or getting consent of use for a public place of instruction prior to opening her doors in a residentially zoned area.
Parry admitted that she did not notify the neighbours before commencing as the town planning scheme requires. She started the school on 6 August 2014 but only applied for consent of use on 24 November 2014. Due to the fact that she did not have the consent the GDE instructed her not to operate in 2015. She said according to the town planner at the time, she had to take occupation of the property in order for them to asses the impact of traffic, noise levels and privacy might have on the neighbourhood.
Parry said during a first site inspection by the GDE she was told they were impressed and it would be only a matter of time before she would get permission to go ahead. During a second visit she said the GDE told her she has to close down.
She said she respects the neighbours’ right to object but maintains the school would be an asset to the area. According to her the neighbours’ objections regarding noise, privacy, traffic and the decline in property value are not valid.
In a letter she wrote to her neighbour Deon Esterhuizen, which she gave to the record, she logged various incidents which she feels discredit his dismay with the school and in a thinly veiled manner insinuates that certain of his actions are perverted and the school is actually his victim.
The letter alleges Esterhuizen committed the following transgressions:
• Taking pictures of parents and children.
• Installing cameras to spy on the school.
• Staring at the children.
• Posting security guards and security vehicles on his pavement in order to intimidate the children.
• Swearing at parents and children.
• Causing noise during school hours.
• Parking cars in all the parking bays in front of Merlyn Manor flat in order for the parents not to park there.
When asked what she would have done differently she admitted on two occasions that she “had done things the wrong way around”. She pleaded ignorance of the process as a reason for not following procedure and said she could have been given “the wrong information” by the first town planner who worked on the project. The town planner abandoned the project which she says was due to a “conflict of interests”.
Parry invites the neighbours to pay a visit to the school where the various issues can be discussed in an attempt to solve the existing issues.
Click here to see the GDE’s requirements regarding the opening of an independent school
Click here to see GDE’s requirements to open a private school
