SCHOOL IN TRANSITION

We wish to acknowledge and respond to an opinion piece by John van den Berg entitled, ‘How to ruin a school’- (Tuesday,1 March 2022). Our article will provide what we think is a critical missing link: the other side of the story. The main point of our article is that there are countless stories residing within our school, far more than the previously shared singular experience which derides the multiple inside stories told and untold.

We seek objectivity, allowing diversity of voices (stories) to be heard including that of children, parents, school governors, estate staff, teachers, admin staff, alumnae, etc., and offer reflections on how unprecedented events reshaped the pre-existing school culture to write a new story.

In paraphrasing the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie, all these stories make us who we are as St Mary’s DSG. But to draw conclusions based on a single story has the potential to mute many other experiences (voices) in the school, which may overlook the foundational stories that shape who we are. The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.

Mr van den Berg’s story is certainly not the only story; as an academic we trust his familiarity with issues of speculative thinking, generalisations, validity & reliability, and the accuracy of facts presented in a manner that is objective. Later in this article we shall present a series of rudimentary truths that will hopefully balance out and where necessary refute some of the unqualified claims made by Mr van den Berg.

St Mary’s DSG is a South African school in an African continent that forms part of a global community. We draw our learner population from different countries across Africa. What happened in our school reflects a broader societal/global change pattern. A quick glance at the private education sector in South Africa suggests that schools are being challenged by contextual factors such as gender, race, class, social justice issues, intersectionality, abuse of children, human rights, etc.

Recently there have been several well-respected schools uncharacteristically battling with a plethora of issues such as sexual misconduct of teachers and coaches, fatal negligence during school trips, bullying, racism, drug abuse, etc. Do we reference such incidents and build cases against the affected school communities without delving deeper into the sensitive role of context?

The events that unfolded at St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria in 2020 were not an anomaly but a microcosm of a broad evolutionary process of change which many other schools, particularly in the independent schools’ sector, are yet to experience. This is our new reality as the school and we own it. Therefore, the article by Mr Van den Berg gives us the opportunity to revisit our previous reality by presenting a dimension which he may have forgotten, glazed over or deliberately omitted.

In seeking objectivity, we invite him as well to remember that he was part of the collective parent body not an uninominal stakeholder with unfettered executive powers. He was part of a body that met, made contributions, disagreed, questioned, approved, and took decisions as per stakeholder allowances given to all parents in our school. Below are a few facts (no order of preference) in contestation:

1. As Mr van den Berg points out, St Mary’s DSG and other private and public schools experienced a painful episode of protests followed by an outward expression of experiences of racism, xenophobia, and homophobia by the then-current and past learners at the school.

2. Mr van den Berg states, “If there is one school in this spectrum that stands as a salutary example of what not to do, it is St. Mary’s DSG, Pretoria” We beg to differ. The events, while uncomfortable, have proven to be a cathartic experience in St Mary’s DSG’s journey of transformation, diversity, and inclusion.

3. Our interaction with peer schools, both formal and informal, have proven to be an exchange in a lesson learnt. While some commend our thoroughness in examining the complaints, others point to the time taken to reach certain key milestones. We accept and have learnt from this.

4. As a result of these protests and subsequent engagement, we got to hear from past learners of the pain and trauma they suffered at the school with no one to tell it to and which they carried into their young adult lives. They were grateful for an opportunity to offload this. To write their views and experiences off would be wrong, cruel, and unfair.

5. The truth is that St Mary’s DSG has begun making headways in its journey of transformation, diversity, and inclusion. Mr van den Berg’s unfamiliarity with the current transformation and diversity agenda of the school impairs his assessment of the appointment of our Transformation and Diversity Director, a move which he suggests was done at the expense of a maths teacher, which is inaccurate. The appointment of the former and vacancy of the latter are unrelated.

6. St Mary’s DSG carried out two separate investigations: one into alleged cyber misconduct and the other into alleged racism, xenophobia, and homophobia. Their findings were communicated widely to the St Mary’s DSG community in September 2020 and January 2021, and their recommendations followed or certainly explored in detail.

7. The outcome of the investigation remains a matter of public record and while losing staff is an unfortunate outcome, the process followed was open, thorough, and fair. This was further supported by the CCMA who found that all processes followed were in line with acceptable labour practices. The collateral damage remains highly regrettable, but change can sometimes be hurtful and unintended.

8. It is not entirely true that no learner was found guilty of misconduct arising out of this episode, and it is incorrect to state that no action was taken. The school followed a path of mediation and restorative justice, both principles and methods recognised in South African law. Additionally, learners were offered workshops in racial literacy immersion, to heighten their sense of awareness when their actions or subconscious biases unintentionally offend or constitute subliminal racism and other forms of discrimination.

Disciplinary action was eschewed at the time as the school felt, quite rightly in retrospect, that it would have been protracted, divisive and potentially undermine the mediation work and restorative justice that we sought to pursue.

9. As we discovered and as is the case in South African law, proving racism or slander can be difficult and the onus rests with the accuser. More importantly, witnesses chose not to come forward, after sharing their original experiences, for fear of further victimisation or in the belief that the administrative hassle of pursuing justice is not worth their time, effort, and reputation. We cannot force witnesses to come forward, but that does not mean incidences of discrimination do not occur.

10. Our matric results for 2021 were the best we’ve had over a five-year period since 2017. We had the highest number of distinctions attained. 86% of our candidates achieved a distinction and 24% of these achieved an overall average of 80%. This means that our matric results are consistent with no notable difference between pre-covid-19 and covid-19 contexts. Any projections made against these statistics would be speculative.

Points of reflection:

I. Could we have done more to prevent the subsequent staff turnover? Maybe yes, however, a few realities need to be considered. 20 teachers who have gradually left the school did so for a number of reasons ranging from retirement, seeking new opportunities, relocation, despondency, etc.

II. Could management have done more to protect staff (not just teachers, but all categories of staff in the school)? Yes, however, the rawness of our situation then, presented us with unpredictability that made it hard for management to anticipate the next area of challenge.

III. In 2022 the school has a newly constructed and diverse management team that is moving in the strategic direction that reflects the needs of the school community. While we move in this chosen direction, we still battle with remnants and residue from the previous implosion. We are not perfect, but are slowly finding our feet, and forging forward into what we believe is the future that our children will eventually face.

IV. Our biggest challenges lie in relational issues as staff, management, and parent body re-design their new reality and make sense of their current context.

V. In the midst of all the projected changes we have chosen to focus primarily on the SA Constitution as the base for all our daily activities. We are currently developing a concept that will integrate the Constitution into our curriculum.

VI. We have reviewed and developed certain school policies embracing our new school context that seeks to achieve equity, prevent racism, advance social justice, observe human rights, and promote equality. Our new Code of Conduct, Hair Policy, and Diversity and Inclusion policies are fine examples of our school’s commitment to change.

VII. Our school is making significant contributions in different transformation projects including our participation in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s (ACSA) address of discrimination issues at all Diocesan schools; making conceptual contributions towards the design and development of a proposed Transformation structure - SATISA (South African Transformation for Independent Schools Association) that will help independent schools with all issues concerning Transformation, Diversity, and Inclusion.

VIII. We have chosen the ‘Humanism/Ubuntu’ approach as our foundational philosophy in line with the concepts of ‘growth mindset and agility’ as an expectation for everyone who works at St Mary’s DSG to practise.

IX. Our learners are participating in international events and making presentations at conferences around issues affecting youth globally. This we do to help them develop effective leadership skills, emotional intelligence, and attitudinal prowess that will help them to ‘fly’ (in tandem with our school mantra).

X. Our school values and the role of the Anglican Church remain our guiding light and pillar of strength.

Conclusion

Our new journey has begun. In it are imperfections, anxiety, weaknesses, and challenges brought by changes, good or bad. We continue striving to be our very best. New opportunities are being created in different areas of the school. In the same breath we acknowledge older and previously uncontested opportunities shutting down due to fierce competition created by new and diverse talent coming to our school. As a school we confidently take pride in the calibre, capacity, competence, and qualification of our staff, young, mature, new, and experienced.

We have chosen to focus our energies in preparing our learners for the future where diversity, transformation, and inclusion will become a permanent feature in their lives. We respect the decisions made by those parents who chose a different pathway during the implosion. We honour the parents who stayed behind and worked towards finding a workable solution.

We offer our sincere apologies to every member of the school community who were directly and indirectly hurt during the change processes. We thank all our staff, and in particular our teachers as practitioners at the coal-face.

Similarly, we appreciate the resilient spirit shown by our learners (old and new). We hope to move into a new era where we use our St Mary’s DSG experience to help other schools manage their new change realities. We thank the Anglican Church for its infinite support and guidance.

We are a school in transition and very hopeful about its future. We thank Mr van den Berg for sharing his story; it reminded us that sometimes what may seem ruinous at a distance could actually be an opportunity for something greater. It’s all about perspective.

St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria.