The former principal of Punchbowl Boys, Chris Griffiths, was not given any explanation as to why he was unexpectedly removed from the school and was only told he would be given a new job as principal at another school, according to court documents.
Documents lodged in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission say that Mr Griffiths' deputy, Joumana Dennaoui, who was also removed from the school on March 2, was told she would be moved to Casula High School as deputy principal.
Mr Griffiths and Ms Dennaoui are taking legal action in the commission, alleging procedural unfairness in their removal from the school.
They were removed from Punchbowl Boys after the department undertook an "appraisal" of the school's "policies, practices and procedures".
There is no formal department policy around appraisals but the department says it "routinely examines the operations of its schools to ensure teaching and learning is being delivered to meet the required high standards".
In a radio interview on March 6, the secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Mark Scott, said a decision was made in the final term of last year that senior department officers would undertake an appraisal of Punchbowl Boys when school returned this year.
Mr Scott said the school had been reluctant to implement the School Communities Working Together program, introduced after 15-year-old Arthur Phillip High School student Farhad Jabar shot police accountant Curtis Cheng dead in an Islamic State-inspired attack.
Mr Griffiths was consulted during the appraisal process, according to the department.
The court documents say that Mr Griffiths and Ms Dennaoui have not been told why they were to be sent to other schools.
"Neither Mr Griffiths or Ms Dennaoui have been provided with reasons for their removal from their prospective positions at Punchbowl Boys High School, despite numerous requests by the notifier, both orally or in writing," the documents say.
The document says that two weeks later, on March 20, Mr Scott undertook to send a letter outlining the reasons behind the decision to transfer Mr Griffiths and Ms Dennaoui.
On March 24, a text message was sent by an education department official saying that the promised letter would be delayed.
"Some 23 days after their removal from their positions, neither Mr Griffiths nor Ms Dennaoui have had any further information as for the reasons for their directed transfers, other than the many comments and statements attributed to the Secretary, Mr Mark Scott, and the Deputy Secretary Public Schools NSW, Murat Dizdar, in the print media and statements made by Mr Scott in a recent 60 Minutes interview," the document says.
The case will return to the commission on April 19.
