PUPIL LEAVES PV AFTER ‘DRAG’ DEBACLE By Cassy van Eeden 2014-09-14 00:00 Parel Vallei headmaster David Schenck has denied referring to cross-dressing as “immoral” or “against Christianity”.Photo: Jamey Gordon A matriculant caught in the middle of a media storm about Parel Vallei High School’s 40-days celebration opted to leave the school on Tuesday evening just before a disciplinary hearing was set to take place. The school had charged him with serious misconduct after comments he allegedly made to the Cape Times resulted in an article on the front page on 1 September headlined “Pupil cries foul after principal rules out cross-dressing for matric event”. The issue was also reported online by at least five other media houses, with The Telegraph’s online version headlined “South African school principal bans students from dressing in drag”. The headmaster of Parel Vallei High School, David Schenck, claims that his communication on the dress code for 40-days had been misconstrued. The matric pupil had faced possible expulsion if found guilty at the disciplinary hearing. Moments before the hearing was to take place, the pupil’s attorney informed the prosecutor that he had opted to leave the school. The pupil retains his registration for the National Senior Certificate exams and the school has said he is welcome to write his exams there should the Department of Education confirm that Parel Vallei is his official exam venue. The saga started in early August, according to Schenck, when he was made aware of a message that was being circulated by matriculants via WhatsApp and BBM. The message encouraged learners to bring “lots of cling wrap, duct tape, black bags, heavy duty cable ties, shaving cream, water balloons and opposite genders uniform to be changed into at first break.” The message also stipulated that learners should “keep this away from the matric committee and the Learner Council as well as anyone else that would tell”. Schenck said that he called the matric committee into his office to address the message. The committee told him that they knew nothing about these plans and that they wanted “a controlled 40-days”. The committee proposed to him that the learners be allowed to either dress in drag or as super-heroes. Schenck says he told the committee that he would not approve of cross-dressing, because “to dress up in a certain way that could offend others in the school, to me doesn’t work and I’m not prepared to create a situation where I can cause offence to anyone. That’s my job as a headmaster; to make sure everyone’s rights are protected”. He said that the committee “walked away very happy with my explanation.” Schenck said that the committee took that message back to the matric body and on the same day Schenck called a meeting with the matrics about the 40-days celebration. “In that meeting, the young man that has now gone to the press raised a question around immorality.” Schenck says the learner had received information from the committee that he had used the word “immoral” in his meeting with them. Schenck said he told the learner that he would not address the matter with him publicly, as “there’s no privacy in that.” Then the article appeared on the front page of the Cape Times, stating that, according to a pupil, the principal of Parel Vallei High had said cross-dressing was “immoral” and “against Christianity”. Schenck says that he had used the words “immoral” and “against Christianity” when he explained to the committee that by cross-dressing, “you’ll be offending someone else - and that’s against Christian values”. On the day of the article’s publication, the learner received notice that he would be facing disciplinary action with a recommendation of expulsion. Under the charge of serious misconduct, the pupil was accused of “gross insubordination, an unwarranted personal attack on the principles, values, dignity, conduct and the ability of [the headmaster], an attempt to embarrass Parel Vallei High, an attempt to embarrass [the headmaster] and an attempt to embarrass the governing body of Parel Vallei High”. The chairperson of the school’s disciplinary committee, Paul du Toit, says that when he reviewed the matter, he decided to draft a letter to the school’s Governing Body “for a disciplinary hearing, due to the extreme seriousness of this transgression”. Presently the matriculant is continuing with his exams as an “individual pupil” who is simply taking his exams on the school’s premises, says Du Toit. DistrictMail attempted to gain comment from the pupil, but his family declined to comment. districtmail/184777/news-details/pupil-leaves-pv-after-%E2%80%98drag-debacle
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 09:21:41 +0000
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