“Suffocating pressures and workplace bullying” complains the husband of a 54-year-old teacher who on April 28 ended her life by taking a “death dive” from the roof of an apartment building.
The woman, who worked as a principal at the 57th elementary school Cologne, “felt alone and unprotected against a burden that went beyond the limits of daily administrative responsibility” her husband claims.
The official version of the unfortunate woman’s family is given by the lawyer representing them, who speaks exclusively to “Manifesto”.
Tthe “inferno” memo
The 54-year-old teacher’s family had pointed out, from the moment her suicide became public knowledge, that the reasons for her taking the ill-advised action were related to what she was experiencing in the workplace. The elementary school principal was a mother of two children and was described by people in her family circle as “a hard-working, low-key woman who was dedicated to her school.”
As part of the preliminary Administrative Preliminary Inquiry, ordered immediately after the incident by the Attica Regional Directorate of Education, the teacher’s family has filed a memo.
In it, they describe “difficult situations in the school unit, for students with problematic behaviors, incidents of bullying among children, and for parents who allegedly exerted intense pressure on the principal, believing that she was not taking sufficient measures to manage the problems.”
According to the same reports, in recent months the situation had reportedly deteriorated, with the family claiming that the teacher felt alone and unprotected against a burden that went beyond the bounds of day-to-day administrative responsibility. It is noted that the principal’s husband has reportedly been gathering evidence, asking that possible responsibility for workplace bullying be examined on three levels. The first relates to the students’ families, the second relates to persons from the school’s PTA, and the third relates to persons from the school environment.
Stelios Lerios: “Conduct and omissions to be investigated”
Talking to Manifesto, the family’s lawyer, Stelios Lerios, says of the case: “We request a full and in-depth investigation of the case at the criminal, civil and disciplinary levels. The investigation must focus on any act, omission, conduct or pressure that was manifested both in the work environment of my client’s wife and by persons connected to the PTA, and which may have contributed substantially to her severe emotional distress.”
It also stresses that for the full clarification of the tragic case “it is crucial to establish whether and to what extent these circumstances affected her mental state and are causally linked to her decision to commit the act of suicide”.
Along with the disciplinary investigation, a preliminary investigation by the National Police is also underway, as the husband had filed a complaint against all those responsible immediately after the tragedy.
The case of Sofia Christidou in Thessaloniki
In early March, another shocking case, related to workplace bullying, had shocked Thessaloniki. Sophia Christidou, 58, had ended up having a haemorrhagic stroke and was reportedly experiencing a daily nightmare in her school environment, having even officially denounced extreme bullying behaviour against her.
In a memo she had sent to the school’s administration, the Secondary Education Department and the Ministry of Education, she described a “grim reality”, with “shocking details of the attacks she received from a specific group of students”. The English teacher referred to extreme insults and humiliation during lessons.
According to her memo, students hurled plastic bottles filled with liquids, papers and heavy books at her head and back, posing an immediate threat to her physical integrity, as she suffered from a fractured sacrum. In addition, she alleged that she was subjected to severe insults and threats of beatings, and reported incidents of students making animal cries to interrupt class or even a student showing off her buttocks provocatively.
In the wake of the furore that erupted at the time, the Parents’ Association of the 3rd High School of Thessaloniki issued an official statement. In it, the students’ parents spoke of “the circulation of allegations and comments that attempt to attribute responsibility to students without any documentation,” calling the accusations “unsubstantiated and slanderous.”
