New English School board chief quits

THE newly-appointed chairman of the English School board, Daniel Hadjitofis, has resigned from his post, a source close to him said yesterday.

The resignation comes just days after the new board decided to remove headmaster Thomas Thomas from his post.

The source gave no explanation for Hadjitofis’s departure and said he had gone on holiday and could not be contacted. Newspaper reports yesterday suggested that Hadjitofis, who is director of the Fulbright institute in Cyprus, would resign because of “other obligations”.

The school board – minus Hadjitofis – and parents’ association met Thomas yesterday evening to discuss a separation package.

Thomas was ousted after staff – accusing him of treating them improperly and making unfair promotions – passed a vote of no confidence in him by 59 votes to three. The previous school board had cleared Thomas of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation.

The board was replaced by the cabinet on July 29 after a ministerial committee probed recent events at the school, including allegations of favouritism.

Senior master Emilios Solomou has taken over as temporary headmaster of the Island’s top private school.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.