An independent group of 177 students and alumni from Hong Kong’s embattled Canadian International School sent a series of open letters calling for an investigation of the school’s administration to various external organisations last Friday.
The letters, which were drafted by representatives from 10 graduating classes, addressed increasing concerns about governance issues within the current administration. (Full disclosure: The writer of this article is a graduate of CDNIS.)
The reputation of the school has been tainted with a string of controversies and upsets since the transition of power to the new head, Dr. Gregg Maloberti, this past academic year.
The organisations that received the letter include the Educational Bureau of Hong Kong, the Canadian Consulate and the International Baccalaureate Organisation.
The group, titled the Student-Alumni Forum, was formed in mid-June after the sudden terminations of nine teachers and one administrative staff member moments before the school broke up for summer on June 11.
According to the letter written by members of the Class of 2015, the handling of the sackings put many students in emotional distress.
Teachers were reportedly notified of their dismissal while they were passing out report cards to students at the end of the school day, and given just two and a half hours to leave the school premises.
“Students and teachers were in tears; it was a scene that was completely unprecedented in its emotional impact,” the letter reads.
“[The teachers] seemed like the very heart of CDNIS,” a current student told Coconuts HK this week.
Of the staff members who were terminated, many had taught at the school for over a decade. The majority of the teachers were also members of the Current Concerns Committee, a group formed to address transitional and governance issues under the new administration.
After the mass terminations, several key staff members, including a vice principal, resigned from the school. Many more veteran teachers of the school have resigned in the past year.
The school also apparently attempted to fire a teacher who is currently pregnant, but was unable to do so under Hong Kong labour laws.
Several of the teachers sought Dr. Maloberti for an explanation of their dismissals upon receiving their letters, to which the head of school allegedly replied that he did not need to provide a reason.
A teacher who resigned from the school this year told Coconuts HK that all of the fired teachers were either the family or friends of former administrators.
She added that it will be difficult to find adequate replacements for the dismissed teachers, as employment for international schools is usually secured during the fall. The school has said that it would be using supply teachers to fill the vacancies.
Another concern mentioned in the letters is the “decline of the educational quality delivered by CDNIS”, which the group argues is a result of the immense pressure that teachers have been placed under by the administration.
Effectively, the student and alumni group hope that through the letters, the external organisations will help to reinstate pedagogical values that “have not been upheld in recent administrative behaviour” and to “rebuild the school community.”
When contacted by Coconuts HK, the school said that their HR policy prevents them from “comment[ing] on individual personnel matters.” No comment was given regarding the teachers’ terminated positions.
