Pubdate: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 Source: Irish Independent (Ireland) Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd Contact: http://www.independent.ie/ Author: Lorna Reid BACK TO SCHOOL FOR EXPELLED DRUG PUPIL A Co Wicklow headmaster who expelled a 16-year-old pupil for drug-dealing and drug-abuse has been ordered by the High Court to re-admit the boy to school next week. And now Gearoid O Ciarain, the head of Colaiste Raithin, Florence Road, Bray, has to appear before the High Court again in three weeks for a judicial review of the case. Yesterday Mr Justice Aindreas O Caoimh granted an interlocutory injunction to the boy's parents allowing the boy to return to the high achievers' school on January 8. Last night Mr O Ciarain, who has been principal of Colaiste Raithin since it opened almost 10 years ago, said the judgment raises very serious questions for him as principal of the school. "It also has implications for other teachers who might find themselves in a similar situation," he said. Three months ago Mr O Ciarain and his deputy head, Noirin Ni Chonghaile, took a group of transition-year pupils to Inis Mor on the Aran Islands for a weekend. On their first evening there, an islander complained that his house had been hit by a missile. The pupils were questioned and the pupil who was later expelled handed over what appeared to be a toy gun. The gun, later examined by Garda ballistic experts turned out to be an air gun, for which a licence is needed. The following day the teachers noticed that another pupil was very disorientated and admitted smoking hash. The boy, who was later to be expelled, claimed he had bought pounds 70 worth of hash from a dealer in Bray the day before the weekend trip. At a later meeting with his teachers, and in the presence of his parents, he admitted to collecting money from two other pupils, contacting a dealer in Bray and receiving pounds 70 worth of hash, some of which he distributed to fellow students on the train from Dublin to Galway. He also admitted to being a party to an incident which involved the use of illegal drugs near the Community Centre in Boghall Road some months earlier. This student and four others were initially suspended from school, and a Board of Management meeting some days later decided to expel them. However, at another meeting of the Board it was decided to take all five back into the school. Then the VEC got involved and upheld the Board of Management decision to reinstate the pupils. Mr O Ciarain then told the VEC and the Board of Management that he had problems with this decision, relating specifically to one pupil. "I refused to take this particular boy back because I was unhappy with the procedures followed by the VEC," Mr O Ciarain said yesterday. At a lengthy meeting of a sub-committee of the VEC Mr O Ciarain outlined his reasons for refusing to take the pupil back into the co-ed school. "However, the VEC insisted that I should take the pupil back, and in the meantime the pupil's parents sought a judicial review and an injunction in the High Court," Mr O Ciarain explained. The issue languished over the Christmas holiday period, and the case was heard at the beginning of January. Mr Justice O Caoimh decided the boy should return to school when the new term begins on Monday and has directed that the VEC also appear in court on January 22. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe