Apparently after the board published to the greater community that Barry Sutherland, school director and Tracy France George, Elementary Principal were engaged in an inappropriate relationship for some time and released Tracy from her duties but not the Director things got ugly. It seems the parent and teacher community have rallied with hundreds of complaints to the board. The board will meet soon in order to decide whether they with to retain a school director who engaged in an affair with a direct subordinate and at the same time destroyed two families. I suspect it may not be the image they wish to project. If you are interested in this school it may pay to wait a week to see what happens in this regard.

I was also interested in this school and asked around my network and it seems the problem with the Elementary Principal mentioned in an earlier post has been solved, however it is all a bit sketchy if you ask me. The International School of Phnom Penh board just released this communication to the full school community. Apparently the Director Barry Sutherland has had an ongoing "conflict of interest" with the Principal Tracy France George for some time. The worst part are both admins are halves of teaching couples in the same school. YIKES!

Here is the ISPP Board's statement:

"In November 2013, the ISPP Board of Trustees was required to consider carefully an issue of conflict of interest between two key positions within the school, namely the Elementary Principal and the Director, which was brought to our attention by the two parties mentioned. On this basis the Board of Trustees convened an Extraordinary Board session to immediately and objectively review this matter. At its 11 November 2013 meeting, the Board of Trustees confirmed that a conflict of interest did exist and found that it was untenable under the management structure of the school. Consequently, the Board of Trustees asked that the parties involved identify viable mechanisms to address the identified conflict of interest to ensure the ongoing full and uncompromised functioning of the school. After extensive deliberation by the Board regarding the viability of options to address the conflict of interest, in consultation with the affected parties and with the advice of legal counsel, the Board agreed to a proposal set forth by the Director and Elementary School Principal, namely that the Elementary School Principal will, as of January 2014, be on a leave of absence and will resign from the position upon the expiration of her contract in July 2014. The ISPP management, supported by the Board, will now act promptly to ensure continuity during the upcoming transition period in order to ensure the continuing high quality of education provided to all ISPP students
The Board of Trustees makes itself available to answer any questions related to this matter. Such questions should be forwarded in writing to the Chair of the Board of Trustees (paulfreer@ispp.edu.kh) enclosing the verifiable name and contact details of the enquirer. The Board of Trustees on no occasion condones the use of the parent email network for communication from any source that raises issues of a personal nature related to persons within or outside of the ISPP school community.
The Board wishes to acknowledge the professional manner in which the affected parties have addressed the resolution of this issue. In particular, the Board wishes to acknowledge and thank the Elementary Principal for her many years of exemplary service to the ISPP community and her professional commitment to the uncompromised functioning of the school through appropriately addressing resolution of this issue. Finally, the Board extends its appreciation to the ISPP community for its understanding and support during the upcoming transition period."