A school principal who was demoted after being found to have emotionally abused a pupil by requiring her to kneel on the floor on two occasions has lost her High Court challenge to the disciplinary process. Ms Sheehy was initially dismissed but on appeal this was reduced to demotion back to class teacher. Ms Justice Úna Ní­Raifeartaigh rejected Ms Sheehy’s challenge to the disciplinary process which she said was flawed and tainted by bias against her. Ms Varley also alleged Ms Sheehy had undertaken “inappropriate methods of discipline” with regard to a particular pupil who she said had been instructed on two occasions to kneel on the ground facing the wall. The board conducted an oral hearing into the complaints in June 2017 at which Ms Sheehy strenuously denied the allegations against her.

Source: The Irish Times May 09, 2019 15:11 UTC