The Pingtung County Government should review past punitive measures against an experimental elementary school dean surnamed Lin (林) in light of new evidence, and the Ministry of Education should remove Lin from the list of nominees for the Excellent Teacher Award, New Power Party (NPP) Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) said yesterday.
Wang said she received a complaint from a teacher who in July last year said they were sexually harassed and reported the incident to Lin.
Wang at a news conference played part of a recording the teacher appeared to have made of Lin responding to the complaint, saying that reporting the incident was not legally necessary, although the teacher could “call in” the report if they wished.
Photo: CNA
Lin’s disregard for the complaint contravened the Gender Equality Education Act (性別平等教育法).
Wang said she and the teacher last year met with the ministry, its K-12 Education Administration and the Pingtung County Government, but the latter had failed to react promptly.
The Pingtung County Government allegedly said that it did not see the necessity of removing Lin from the list of award candidates, adding that the accusations did not “affect his professional ability,” Wang said.
The teacher read a statement yesterday stating that they experienced pressure from school authorities and could no longer trust the school to handle the complaint.
The teacher also said a letter was received from a lawyer hired by the school in January, claiming that the teacher’s record of service — stamped by the school and the dean — had been falsified by the teacher.
The teacher denied this.
National Federation of Education Unions secretary-general Liu Ya-ping (劉亞平) said the Pingtung County Government touted the experimental school as a success, but in addition to the sexual harassment accusations, he had also received information that two staff members allegedly bullied students verbally and instituted inappropriate disciplinary measures in other cases.
The students’ parents asked Lin to investigate the incident, but he did not follow regulations to report and investigate the issue, Liu said, adding that the students were forced to transfer to other schools.
The Pingtung County Government’s investigation confirmed the use of inappropriate disciplinary measures, but did not penalize the two staff members, Liu said.
Lin was protecting one of the staff members despite multiple complaints of the employee’s bullying and sexual harassment, Liu said.
The federation had received multiple complaints from former faculty at the school that Lin’s method of administration was harsh, and the resultant teacher turnover rate made work difficult for staff, he said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS