Solicitors for the live-in former principal of a private Co Wicklow school notified the school board yesterday that she would leave the premises by Monday. At Aravon School, in Bray, yesterday, the family was packing possessions into chests and boxes. It is preparing to move to the rectory at Rathmichael following an invitation from the Rev Fred Applebe.
Mrs Patricia O'Malley (53) was dismissed from her post at the school on July 6th and had failed to meet a board request that she vacate the living quarters at the school by last Friday.
On Sunday, two members of a security firm, accompanied by two school board members, told Mrs O'Malley they wanted to secure the premises. Two of the school's telephone lines were disconnected by the board last week. The security staff have since left the school.
Mrs O'Malley lives at the school with her husband, Terence (55), and two of their four children. Mr O'Malley, a former principal at the school, was also sacked from his post as a part-time science teacher on July 6th.
Mr O'Malley was not at Aravon yesterday, and Mrs O'Malley felt it inappropriate to comment as she has initiated legal proceedings against the school board. Mr O'Malley is also taking an action against the school board through the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
However, a close family relative said yesterday that solicitors for Mrs O'Malley had indicated, in a letter to the board, that she and her family would vacate the living quarters by Monday.
She also gave an assurance in the letter that, in the intervening period, she would not interfere with anything going on at the school, which opens on September 9th, and that she was agreeable to an appointment being made for the living quarters to be inspected so renovation might be assessed.
A verbal message, with the same content, had been sent to the school board through a mediator last Saturday, and was apparently rejected.
It is understood that the O'Malley family have practical difficulties in moving sooner.
Mr Applebe intervened on Sunday when the board members and security staff arrived at the school and he offered the family accommodation. "Sanctuary," as a family member put it yesterday. Furniture will be stored with friends.
It is believed that neither Mr O'Malley nor Mrs O'Malley will be in a position to work pending the outcome of their actions against the school board and will be on unemployment assistance in the interim.
A family member spoke of the "very traumatic" events of July 6th, and said neither Mr O'Malley nor Mrs O'Malley had had any indication in advance that they were about to be dismissed. It was "out of the blue".
Both have worked and lived at the school for 27 years. The school's living quarters, including four bedrooms, make up most of its east wing.
