By Angelos Anastasiou
THE PARENT-TEACHER Association (PTA) of the English School have appealed to President Nicos Anastasiades for the removal of the school’s board chairwoman, Magda Nicholson, whom they accuse of having “brought both the school’s management and community into disrepute” through lies and corrupt, self-serving practices.
In a letter to Anastasiades dated April 26 and copied to all board members, as well as the school’s headmaster and the parents’ association, the PTA indicted Nicholson of a string of offences, including falsely denying a report by the Cyprus Mail that in March 2014 the board decided to exempt board members’ children from the school’s rigorous admittance exams.
“On 30 March 2014 there was an article in the Cyprus Mail reporting among other things on the decision of 17 March 2014 [to admit children of members of the board even if they have not passed the entrance examination],” the letter said. “On 1 April 2014 there was a clear and unequivocal denial, by the chairperson of the board Ms Magda Nicholson, which appeared online on a site run by Phileleftheros newspaper.”
The denial article – a piece in the Cyprus Daily, also posted on Phileleftheros’ online news site – had Nicholson declaring the Cyprus Mail report on the discriminatory decision as “all lies” and threatening to take legal action, but the PTA’s letter claimed otherwise.
“[Nicholson’s unequivocal denial] appears to be consistent with a trend of false and untrue statements to the media and also to the anti-discrimination authority, which have been made by Ms Nicholson on her own initiative, in her capacity as chairperson of the board,” the PTA charged.
The letter also described what it perceived as another incident of misconduct in February 2014, where Nicholson had informed the board that she had personally arranged for a friend of hers to work with the school in submitting a proposal to the European Commission at a fee that would be charged at 165 hours of consulting services.
“There was no mention of an open process for tenders or of the ES objectives that would justify this preferential selection of an external consultant,” the PTA said. But even more ominously, “there was no indication that the ES staff recognises the need for such services.”
As it is governed by the government, the EnglishSchool’s board of management is appointed by the council of ministers. The current board, including Nicholson as chairwoman, was appointed in July 2013.
Following the list of alleged transgressions, the PTA offered a scathing summary of the accusations against Nicholson and appealed to Anastasiades to intervene in order to force her to step down.
“Corrupt practices, self-serving attitudes, lying to the media and submitting false statements to public authorities are all practices that have been promoted by the chairperson of the board this last year, each of which individually digresses from the minimum expectations of any form of public office,” the PTA argued in its letter and went on to request Anastasiades to “do everything possible to have Ms Nicholson removed from her post”.
In conclusion, the parent-teacher association proposed a series of measures that should be implemented upon appointing a new chairperson. The not-so-subtle implication was that the current lax control and supervision exercised over the school’s management may facilitate even more serious offences.
“We also call for the government to stipulate terms of reference at the time of appointment of a new chairperson of the board, which would include the need for transparency in the ES governance and mechanisms for management accountability, independent educational evaluation and transparent external financial auditing,” the letter concluded.
