Cape Town - South Peninsula High School principal, Brian Isaacs, who is facing suspension by the Western Cape Education Department, says more allegations have been levelled against him.
In a letter last week the department stated that Isaacs had allegedly made himself guilty of “serious misconduct in that you assaulted a learner” as well as “victimisation and improper conduct against learners” at the school.
On Wednesday, Isaacs told the Cape Argus that his union had now informed him of more allegations against him, bringing the number of allegations to six.
He said this included that he had failed to carry out a lawful order or routine instruction from an official without just or reasonable cause and had conducted himself in an improper manner by calling pupils “scum”.
Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said the department couldn’t discuss details of the case because it was sub judice.
He said the department had not put formal charges to Isaacs and had not yet decided on whether to place him on precautionary suspension.
Isaacs has denied all the charges against him and has accused the department of a witch-hunt because his school had opposed many policies and other decisions over the years.
He has also said that he couldn’t defend himself properly because he had not been given the names of the children he had allegedly assaulted and victimised.
The department has asked him to provide reasons why his suspension should not be confirmed and Isaacs said he had done so.
Attwell has denied that there is a witch-hunt against Isaacs.
He said the department could not release the names of the pupils at this stage.
“The department will give Mr Isaacs the names when it is deemed necessary, should he need to defend himself.”
Meanwhile, Isaacs has been embroiled in a legal battle with residents who live near his school about the noise generated by the school’s public address system.
During an inspection in loco at the school in Diep River on Wednesday attended by court officials from the Wynberg Municipal Court as well as local residents, it emerged that residents are divided about the noise.
The first noise complaint was made in 2001.
In 2011 a petition was drawn up by residents which resulted in the City of Cape Town laying a charge of noise nuisance against Isaacs and the school.
Since then Isaacs has been in and out of court as residents testified against him, claiming he used the school’s sound system for the wrong reasons.
“Mr Isaacs is using the loudspeakers to cause a rift in the community,” said resident Marius Willemse who testified in court. “He wants us to go back to the apartheid era but just in his version the whites are the minority and the coloureds are the majority.”
Another resident, Sharon Erskine, said on occasion Isaacs would use the system over weekends to promote division in the community.
“There are times that even late on Sunday or a Saturday when he uses the system and then you can hear it from a kilometre away,” she said.
On Wednesday Willemse and Erskine were among a group who gathered at the school along with Wynberg Magistrate’s Court magistrate Sharon Williams who walked around the school as part of the inspection.
The officials looked at the positioning of the 10 loudspeakers that surround the building and tested noise levels. Isaacs was required to speak which caused further arguments as claims were made that the speakers had been turned down.
After proving that the system was at full blast some residents were still not satisfied.
“When you are here at the school it is not so loud because the walls here echo it out. We who stay around the school get the full effect,” said Willemse.
But Isaacs also received community support.
Cynthia Small, 69, said: “I think it is disgusting the way some people are complaining about speakers when the man is just doing his job as principal. I stay right across the road with my two grandsons and we have no complaints. I mean how else must he speak to all the students?”
Small added the complaints came from just a small number of neighbours; the majority of residents supported Isaacs.
After the tests were done, Isaacs denied claims that he had uttered racial slurs or used the speakers over the weekends.
“If I do use the speakers on a Saturday, it would only be in the morning maybe to call a security guard or an athlete that is playing a match on the grounds. As for Sundays, that is a complete exaggeration – what would I be doing at the school on a Sunday?
“In the past this area had a lot of people forcibly removed and when they came back the school was here. Now these houses are built close to the school and that is when the complaints started coming in. What happens in South Africa is that when people move they are resistant to accepting the changes or the conditions, so that is why they complain.”
Isaacs is due back in the Wynberg Municipal Court on April 29.
Cape Argus