THE DUBLIN fee-paying school Alexandra College is coming under pressure to reinstate a Junior Cert pupil who was removed from the school because of her parents’ failure to pay more than €20,000 in fees.
The school, one of the leading Protestant schools in the State, is standing over its decision but the move has been criticised by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eibhlin Byrne, who has a daughter at the school, and Labour’s spokesman on education, Ruarí Quinn.
The pupil in question was asked to leave the school before the Easter break, a decision which triggered some protests from fellow pupils.
The pupil, a former boarder, has completed some practical exams for her Junior Cert at the school in recent weeks. She will return there to sit her Junior Cert exam next week.
The decision to remove the student was taken by the school’s finance committee which reports to the board of management and the school governing council.
The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill is the ex officio chairof the school council but he had no involvement in the decision.
Neither the principal nor the deputy principal of the school would comment on the issue yesterday.
In a statement issued on behalf of the school by MKC Communications a spokesman said:
“In all cases concerning outstanding fees, including this one, the college attempts to reach an amicable solution and expends considerable time and effort in working with parents to achieve a desirable outcome with the needs of the pupil always being of prime importance.’’
Last night Ms Byrne said the decision ran counter to the ethos of the school and was “totally unacceptable.’’
Labour’s Ruarí Quinn said the school had the option of taking legal action against the parents if there were unpaid fees. Instead, the school opted to penalise a child only weeks before her Junior Cert exam.’’
Labour Senator Ivana Bacik, a former pupil, said the student should be reinstated.
Sources at Alexandra College say the pupil was removed only after an 18-month process in which fees amounting to over €20,000 were unpaid. Boarders at the school pay €16,200 in annual fees.
School sources say “no serious attempt’’ was made to pay the debt owed to the school even though a delayed system of phased payments had been agreed with the parents in question.
The school was established in 1866 to “educate the young girls of middle-class Ireland’’ .
Statement from college
THE FOLLOWING is the full text of the statement issued by the college: “It is a matter of deep regret to the college that a dispute concerning the non-payment of fees for one of its pupils, a boarder, has been brought into the public domain.
Because of the need for confidentiality with regard to matters that should properly remain between the college and the parents/guardians of pupils, there is a limit to the clarification we can offer now in relation to this particular case.
However, in all cases concerning outstanding fees, including this one, the college attempts to reach an amicable solution and expends considerable time and effort in working with parents to achieve a desirable outcome with the needs of the pupil always being of prime importance.
In this particular case we can confirm that the Junior Certificate syllabus was substantially completed by Easter and that the pupil will be able to sit her exams at the college, and that this was made clear at all times.”
