DOCUMENTS

Teacher cleared of racism allegations - National School of Arts

School says this follows two intensive independent legal investigations and a disciplinary hearing, over claims reported in The Star

NSA TEACHER CLEARED OF RACISM ALLEGATIONS

The National School of the Arts (NSA) today announced that the teacher at the centre of racism allegations broken by The Star newspaper in their lead story headlined ‘Racist' Teacher Outrage on 3 June 2014, has been found not guilty of racism.

This follows two intensive independent legal investigations and a disciplinary hearing. On learning of the allegations the NSA immediately placed the educator, Mrs Nell, on precautionary suspension, while the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) and the NSA launched separate legal investigations into the allegations.

Neither legal firm found conclusive evidence that the teacher was racist, but both revealed possible breaches of the SACE (SA Council of Educators) Code of Conduct and recommended that the school conduct a disciplinary hearing to probe all allegations further. The disciplinary hearing, presided over by an independent Presiding Officer, also found no evidence of racism and the teacher was cleared on this charge.  She was found to be in breach of certain SACE clauses relating to discipline and insensitivity however none of these breaches indicated a racial bias.

The NSA's School Governing Body (SGB) has accepted the findings and recommendations of the disciplinary hearing. Mrs Nell's suspension has been lifted with immediate effect and the recommended sanctions for her breaches have been imposed. 

 "Upholding the well-being of our learners remains our first priority," said Brenda Sakellarides, Chairperson of the NSA's SGB. "In our responses to the media, public and NSA parents we gave our assurance that we would leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of these allegations. We engaged and consulted at the highest level and are confident that justice has been served in the process.

"This has been a very challenging and potentially destructive time for the NSA," noted Sakellarides, adding that in 2014 NSA was ranked 6th Top School in Gauteng, in SA's Top 25 Public Schools and amongst The Top 100 Schools in SA, which includes all private schools.

"The Star's allegation that we ‘backed' and ‘defended' a ‘racist' teacher was profoundly damaging and led to the SGB laying a complaint with the Press Council. The Ombudsman found that The Star had breached various clauses of the Press Council's Code in their coverage of this matter and instructed them to publish an apology to the NSA for causing it unnecessary harm by falsely implying that it (NSA) may have supported possible racist behaviour by one of its teachers, publishing factual inaccuracies and using misleading headlines."

Statement issued by the National School of the Arts (NSA), September 30 2014

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