02 September 2011
Dear parents,
My name is Aabida Darvesh and I was an assistant teacher at Linden Primary School up until the end of last term.
I am writing to you as I feel it is now my duty to inform you of the actual facts behind the stories (as it involved me) surrounding the head teacher Zaheer Mohamed who was suspended by the previous school governors and who was the actual cause of so many of the problems at Linden Primary school over the last 12months.
Last year I applied via the official channels for a request for time off for religious purposes, specifically for Hajj as allowed for under the LA agreed policy for leave. This was declined by the head teacher who never informed the governing body of the request even though they had the overall responsibility for dealing with such requests. I held a meeting with the headteacher to review my request and to discuss if possible, a workable solution could be found in order for me to fulfil my Hajj.
During this meeting he taunted, belittled and humiliated me with numerous religiously discriminatory derogatory comments such as “go and work in an Islamic School and become a Mulla if you want to go Hajj“, along with threatening my job if I pursued the matter, he also expressed his views on my religion (Islam) within the workplace and the fact that his name should not let me think he was a Muslim as he was not a Muslim. He stated that “this is not an Islamic school and this school does not accommodate religion.” His extreme views and behaviour as a head teacher left me humiliated and considering my position.
After taking advice and talking to my family I believed I had no choice but to file a grievance in relation to his conduct. I was placed on paid leave until my grievance was heard by the LEA due to the nature of my grievance.
My grievance against the headteacher’s conduct was heard by the governing body chair and the LEA jointly. After a full investigation I was informed by the LEA and Chair that the head teacher was found to have lied during his interviews and statement which placed his credibility and conduct in serious doubt. My grievance was therefore upheld to my amazement as I thought the matter would be swept under the carpet. The headteacher and myself had the right to appeal this decision. The Head teacher represented by his union decided not to appeal the decision by the Chair of Governors and LEA to up hold my grievance.
When the outcome of the grievance was declared, Reena Kapadia HR from the LEA, asked me if I would like to continue working in the school or another school. I decided to continue working at Linden as the matter as far as I was concerned had been dealt with, however I did highlight that I was afraid that I would be the subject of hearsay. Both the LEA and governing body Chair gave express reassurance that they would provide support to me in and would meet with me over a period of time to ensure no problems arose. Content with this, we officially agreed a return date at the end of Nov 2010 and a status review date.
As the headteacher did not appeal the grievance, the governing body thereafter started to take a course of action against the headteacher which I was neither consulted nor informed of as this was nothing to do with me and concerned disciplinary matters which resulted from my grievance, his conduct during the grievance and past similar grievances investigated against him which I have subsequently learned about from parents concerned. Soon afterwards the headteacher was suspended during his disciplinary investigation. As feared, there were rumours emerging within the school that the suspension of the headteacher was in relation to a request for Hajj. This created a very difficult working environment for myself as I felt that I was the topic of conversation.
I was even further distressed by the LEA failing to communicate with me and that they were publically announcing that the LEA were looking to reinstate the headteacher. They was no due consultation nor consideration for my well being within the school, nor for the larger religious community which attended the school, who would be deeply offended and disturbed about his view and conduct if it became public.
I consequently filed for a further second grievance as I was not offered any support since the issues against the headteacher became public, and throughout my working day, staff speculated on the matter in my presence. It took approximately 3 months for this second grievance to be taken seriously and the request was only processed after significant pressure was applied in the form of copying in counsellors and MP’s. Throughout this time I was placed in an extremely difficult and stressful position as I had to put up with people vocally making derogatory remarks over the individual who filed the grievance against the head teacher and the circumstances surrounding it.
I was the victim in this whole affair yet I was provided no support and instead was allowed to be turned into the guilty party. I maintained a high level professionalism and integrity throughout and I lost all faith in the LEA process which was suppose to protect victims not lynch them. All this hastened my consideration to leave the school.
I trust this provides you all with some clarity that many of you having been longing to find out since the release of private and confidential information in the media. I can only urge all of you to think about the implication of the past last 10 months and the impact of such intolerance for religion within the workplace and more specifically prejudicial Islamaphobic views held by Zaheer Mohammed at Linden primary school and in the wider educational field. The blind support of the LEA for such views should also be questioned in terms of community cohesion.
Yours faithfully,
Aabida Darvesh
