Court overturns expulsion from school

(An edited version of this piece was published in the Sunday World April 19th 2015)

An Enniskillen father said he has been vindicated after a Judicial Review overturned a school’s expulsion of his son. The Children’s Commissioner has also welcomed the verdice.  Justice O’Hara found the Principal and Board of Governors of St Joseph’s College, Enniskillen, had failed to follow proper procedures in expelling Shaun Reid. The Judge also found against the Western Education and Library Board, after its Expulsions Appeals Tribunal had upheld the expulsion.

Harry Reid took the Judicial Review on behalf of his son, Shaun Reid. St Joseph’s College, had expelled the 15-year old after a classroom fight in March 2013. “There was an injustice done to my son Shaun,” Harry Reid said. “God knows how many people they have done this to before. With the judgement, they’ll not make the mistake any more.”

Harry Reid said the past two years were very hard on both he and his son. “People don’t realise what stress is till something like this happens,” he said. “Over the last couple of years, I’ve had cancer, diabetes, and chronic back pain. What do you think yourself caused that?”

When Harry Reid saw Judge O’Hara’s judgement quashing the expulsion “it lifted a huge weight from my shoulders.” The Judge found the school had failed to carry out proper procedures, and expelled Shaun Reid without examining alternatives. “I declare that the failure of the principal and chairman of the Board of Governors at the consultative meeting on 16 April 2013 to consider alternative measures short of expulsion was contrary to the requirements of the statutory scheme,” the Judge said in his judgement.

The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools’ scheme for expulsion “makes it clear that expulsion can only be considered ‘after all reasonable courses of action have been explored’.” The scheme “requires some expression of alternatives to expulsion and why they are not sufficient.” These were not investigated.

The Judge queried procedures from the start of the expulsion. “Mr Reid’s allegations that he was told that Shaun would be suspended for 10 days is supported by the fact that after the meeting a letter to that effect was sent by the principal,” the judgement said. “That letter was irregular because the maximum permissible period for an initial suspension is five days.”

Headmaster James Jackson-Ware recommended expulsion to the Board of Governors due to an accumulation of incidents during Shaun Reid’s time at St Joseph’s College. This had culminated in the fight. However, the Judge ruled the Chair of the Board of Governors had exaggerated the number of incidents involving Shaun Reid.

Harry Reid said he was concerned at how the school handled the whole issue. Immediately after Shaun was first suspended, he felt despair. “I was getting nowhere,” he said. “Every door was shut against me till I got legal advice.”

Harry Reid is very grateful to a social worker. He went to see her when Shaun was suspended. “I was out of my mind,” he said. “I told her what had happened. She asked me to sit down, and made a phone call. She came back and told me ‘They can’t suspend Shaun for 10 days. He can only be suspended for five days’. ”

He felt everything was stacked against him. “The big problem is I wasn’t allowed representation at the first meeting with the school, and at the Board of Governors,” he said. “In my case, the chair of the Board of Governors was a solicitor, there were doctors and teachers on it. How can a simple person like myself deal with all of that? When I approached the Northern Ireland Commission for Children and young people, they wouldn’t even allow them to go.”

He said he wouldn’t have won without the help of his solicitor, Andrew Montague, his barrister, Desmond Hutton, and Sinéad Mallon from the Commission for Children.

He is angry that because of the expulsion, Shaun didn’t sit his GCSE. “He was denied the chance of dong his exams, of getting qualifications,” he said.

Harry Reid said other children had been wrongly expelled right across Northern Ireland, but had nobody able to speak up for them. “I want to prevent this happening in future to any other parent,” he said. “Shaun had got on the wrong side of the school authorities. They jumped the gun when the fight happened, and didn’t follow the proper procedures. There are procedures there to be followed. In this case, they weren’t.”

Koulla Yiasouma, the Children’s Commissioner, said she was very pleased the Court found that alternative measures to expulsion should have been considered.

“The Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People was refused admittance to the meeting which took place between the school and the family to discuss potential outcomes,” she said. “Had we been permitted to attend, we could have ensured compliance with the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) Scheme for the Suspension and Expulsion of Pupils, without the need for legal proceedings.”

His best day was sitting the High Court. Judge O’Hara pointed to the difference between the statement of Ms Sproule, the teacher in class at the time of the fight, and headmaster Jackson-Ware. “That vindicated me and my son,” he said. When the judge said ‘the one who came off best was suspended’.” (Note – I was in the High Court and the Judge said this).

The stress has taken its toll on Harry Reid’s health. “