Things get sticky after primary school pupil is expelled over a toffee

A principal expelled a grade three pupil after his mother became embroiled in a spat over why he did not receive a sweet as a reward for paying his school fees.

It is customary for staff at Montessori Private Primary School in Springs, Ekurhuleni, to give pupils a toffee once they hand over a brown envelope with a proof of payment slip inside confirming that the school fees have been paid.

But when the mother of the nine-year-old boy sent a courteous WhatsApp message to the principal, Irma Cronje, on Tuesday indicating that her son’s fees were paid timeously electronically, things turned ugly.

0 of 5

Cronje retorted in a WhatsApp message: “They get a sweet after payment AND returning their Envelope! He/you never ever return the envelope therefore he never gets a sweet.  The brown school fees envelope. Please send it back to us. Thanks.”

Hurt and angry, the boy’s mother responded in another WhatsApp text message: “As the head of my son’s school, I would at least have expected a solution from you. My text was neither confrontational or rude in anyway. Capital letters and exclamations in any written communication is very condescending.”

She continued: “In response to never sending the brown envelope to school, your information is very inaccurate. I used to send the envelope to the school pre-Covid, as I would print the POP [proof of payment] and send same to the school. Now with working from home, his fees are still paid electronically, however, I no longer send the POP as a result of our new normal.

“This was a simple conversation about a sweet, however, your tone has really elevated the conversation to an unwelcome and regrettable one. I hope that this is not the way you converse with other parents ... I therefore choose not to engage further.”

This was a simple conversation about a sweet, however, your tone has really elevated the conversation to an unwelcome and regrettable one.

—  The parent of a nine-year-old pupil

An infuriated Cronje then fired back another WhatsApp message: “Herewith Notice to remove your child immediately. Please send banking details for Aug refund. What a cheek you have to talk like this. Who said you could use my wapp [WhatsApp] line anyway?”

The mother then responded that neither Cronje nor the school “have any grounds for the immediate expulsion of my son. He is not a delinquent pupil, neither does he owe any fees at the school. Your threat of expelling him is baseless and without merit. Your failure to adequately address an issue does not justify your threat of expulsion.”

The mother continued: “Please note that my son will report for school tomorrow [Wednesday]. Should he be turned away and denied access to the school, this will result in formal complaints through all necessary channels about your handling of my child’s rightful access to schooling? Any possible victimisation will be reported to the relevant authorities.”

Cronje’s tit-for-tat WhatsApp response was : “Do what you want to. His place is cancelled. And keep your ideas to yourself. Transfer will be given today [Wednesday]. You are extremely rude.”

The boy’s mother told Sunday Times Daily that receiving sweets for fees being paid “is a big deal for the kids”.

“My son asked me: ‘Mom, are you OK, are you getting paid, are you able to pay my school fees? I’m not getting sweets any more at school like I used to.’ That just broke my heart.

“No matter what conversation we had, I can’t believe she expelled my child. That is what is just painful to me.”

She admitted that the conversation between herself and Cronje “escalated”, adding: “But my son has done nothing wrong. I still have to break the news to him that he won’t be returning to the school.”

The boy’s father said that his son should not be made to suffer “in any shape or form”.

“Now we have to tell a nine-year-old that he can’t go to school essentially because of a sweet.”

This is my school. I am the owner and the principal and I will not let a youngster talk to me this way.

—  School principal Irma Cronje

But Cronje, who accused the boy’s mother of verbally abusing her, denied expelling the pupil, saying instead he had been issued with a transfer card.

“This is my school. I am the owner and the principal and I will not let a youngster talk to me this way. I did call everybody together and they said: ‘Put the child out, we do not want parents like that’.”

Said Cronje: “She can stand on her head, she’s rude. I have never ever come across this.”

She confirmed that pupils were given a toffee for returning the brown envelope.

“To them it’s awesome because it gives them that little bit of responsibility. I just had a child at my table now very proudly bringing back his envelope and getting his sweet.”

“She [the mother] is upset because of my capital letters. I don’t have time to waste with such parents.”

Cronje said the pupil was not in school “because obviously I said the child’s place is cancelled”.

She said: “For over one little toffee, is this what she’s about?”​