Mayor fury after pupil removed at top school
THE Lord Mayor of Dublin hit out at a respected girls' school last night after reports that it removed a pupil from her own daughter's year over parental failure to pay tuition fees.
The boarding student was reportedly taken from class at Alexandra College and made sit alone in a residence building until she was collected and was not allowed take part in an end-of-year fashion show.
It comes just weeks before the girl's Junior Cert is due to begin.
It is understood that the girl was given permission to finish her Junior Cert art project only after her head of year negotiated with management.
The southside school, whose past-pupils include celebrity chef Rachel Allen and Labour by-election candidate Senator Ivana Bacik, reportedly threatened to suspend some of her classmates who staged a sit-in protest following the incident three weeks ago.
Last night Mayor Eibhlin Byrne, whose daughter was a classmate of the girl, said she would be looking for answers when principal Marian Healy returned from sick leave.
"I heard the story from my own daughter who was very upset about it -- that the girl had been taken out of class and that it was to do with financial issues," the Fianna Fail MEP candidate said.
"I'm waiting for the principal to come back because I have a lot of respect for her -- and I am waiting for her side of the story because perhaps there is something else there that I don't know about."
When contacted last night, staff at Alexandra College said there would be nobody available for comment.
Fees for students at the school rose to €6,100 for the current academic year from €5,620 last year. Boarding students have seen their tuition fees rise from €14,950 to €16,220.
Ethos
The school, which has more than 600 pupils, wrote to parents requesting that they contribute an additional €250 per month to help fund a building project.
Cllr Byrne said the decision to remove the girl flew in the face of the school's ethos and the values they were supposed to be instilling in their pupils.
"Everybody is hitting a hard time at the moment and if there are parents in difficulty then it behoves us as a school community to look and see what can be done.
"On other occasions we've had children who weren't paying their fees and arrangements were made for them so it's not as if there isn't a precedent."
- Stephen O'Farrell
