One of the country's most progressive multi-denominational school projects has been rocked by dissension and controversy over the circumstances which led to the resignation of its principal last month.
Cork-born Mr Joe McKeown (36) handed in his notice to the Kilkenny School Project last month, and his union, the INTO, has announced it intends to initiate legal proceedings on his behalf for alleged constructive dismissal.
Apparently irreconcilable differences between Mr McKeown and the board of management over the running of the school came to a head in spite of the involvement over several months of third parties, including the INTO and Educate Together, the umbrella body for the multi-denominational education movement.
Now, with Mr McKeown's departure at the end of August seemingly inevitable, the dispute continues to escalate as well-wishers of the progressive school project look on in dismay.
The INTO has pressed the Department of Education to investigate the management of the school, and a group called Concerned Parents has been formed to question the manner in which the difficulties have been handled by the board.
The 10-teacher, 270-pupil primary school officially opened its new premises on the outskirts of Kilkenny last May after more than a decade of voluntary work and fund-raising by a dedicated group of parents and teachers.
In line with the principles of the Educate Together movement, it set out to be child-centred, co-educational, multi-denominational and democratically run. It was the first purpose-built primary school of its kind outside Dublin.
Mr McKeown, who had taught for 13 years at St Canice's co-educational school in Kilkenny, was appointed principal by the Kilkenny School Project in September 1995 while it was still in temporary premises.
Differences between him and the school management took concrete form some months ago when, the board of management concedes, he was given a letter indicating that the board had reservations about certain aspects of the way he was performing his job.
Thirty-two items were listed. Four of the complaints - all seemingly minor - have been quoted in subsequent media reports, and the board insists it was not the source of these details.
Mr McKeown was alleged to have let a religion class run 20 minutes over, and to have failed to log the post properly. Parents were said to have complained that he allowed a child to answer the school phone, and it was also alleged that he allowed teachers and students to use the parents' room. The full list is believed to have been seen subsequently by a number of parents and by the INTO, but none of the parties involved is willing to discuss the details. Mr McKeown this week declined to be interviewed. Mr Tommy Roche, board of management member and spokesman, said there were other issues as well as the 32 which had been put down on paper. The board had been reluctant to exercise the other options open to it - to issue a letter of warning or to hold a disciplinary hearing.
Mr Roche said the only people who had all the facts were the board and Mr McKeown. He acknowledged that the other teachers had made a statement supporting Mr McKeown's qualities and ability, but asserted that the statement had been directed only to the parents and had not been intended for use in any other context.
The board very much regretted, from the point of view of both the school and of Mr McKeown, that the dispute had gone into the public arena.
He said meetings had been set up for groups of parents to ask questions about the issue, and there had been a PTA meeting where the whole issue was discussed.
Mr Roche said the board fully recognised Mr McKeown's right to representation by his union, but it was "just a pity that this wasn't used as a last resort rather than a first resort".
The board had just been sitting down to meet - with several concrete proposals on the table for a resolution of the dispute - the day Mr McKeown handed in his resignation. Mr Roche said the board would contest any case alleging constructive dismissal. The chairperson of the board of management, Mrs Philidda Clarke, said: "I am confident that the school will come out stronger and better, whatever the outcome. We have not lost sight of the visionary aspects and the original aspirations of the Kilkenny School Project. These are our driving force and motivation."
Up to 100 members of the Concerned Parents group, according to sources, are dismayed at the way the dispute has been handled.
An INTO spokesperson said that over several months there had been meetings with the board and various attempts to resolve the dispute. The discussions were continuing when Mr McKeown resigned because he felt he could no longer do the job he was employed to do. All the points that had been listed in the board's letter to Mr McKeown had been procedural. The organisation felt that interference by management in the principal's role had been excessive and he had been unable to make even minor decisions on his own. The INTO had written to the board informing them of its intention to take legal action, but that could not begin until Mr McKeown's resignation took effect at the end of August.
Interviewed later, the INTO president, Senator Joe O'Toole, said the organisation had thoroughly examined Mr McKeown's running of the school and was totally satisfied with it.
"He is a thorough professional, a very committed, straight-up guy who had the trust and confidence of parents, pupils and his teacher colleagues," said Mr O'Toole.
Mr O'Toole said he still wanted the Department to investigate how the school was managed. It had declined to become involved so far.
Ms Deirdre O'Don oghue, of Educate Together, said they had asked everybody involved to take a step back, use all the democratic structures available and come together to ensure the further progress of the school. Educate Together would always be available to any of the schools in the movement to mediate on any problems where it was felt they could help.
The organisation had talked to all the people involved in Kilkenny. "We've been playing a listening role, an advisory role. It is always better if these things are sorted out at local level. We are a bottom-up organisation. It would not be for us to step in and start telling them what to do."
There is considerable distress among the founding members of the project. One remarked this week: "It should be mediated to a conclusion."
The Kilkenny School Project is widely regarded as a testament to the determination, shared vision and hard work of the parents, teachers and pupils. It is one of 16 multi-denominational schools in the Republic, nine in the Greater Dublin area.
The Kilkenny School has developed a unique model of curriculum development, an achievement in which Mr McKeown was centrally involved. He has been a regular speaker on the subject at conferences.
The father of two children, a school-going six-year-old and another due to start school in the autumn, he has now accepted a teaching position in another Kilkenny primary school.