In connection with the case in which an elementary school teacher in Daejeon murdered a student on school grounds in February, the Ministry of Education has ordered disciplinary actions, including severe disciplinary measures, against the principal and other related personnel, citing their failure to fulfill their responsibilities.
On May 30, the Ministry of Education announced the results of an investigation conducted by the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education from February 17 to 28 regarding this incident. Based on the findings, the ministry requested that the Daejeon Office of Education impose severe disciplinary action on the principal, and minor disciplinary actions on the vice principal and the head of the relevant department at the district education office.
The investigation found that the principal failed to fulfill his responsibilities as the head of the school regarding the incident. The Ministry of Education cited several reasons: the principal did not report the incident to the police even though, a few days before the incident, the perpetrator teacher had damaged his own computer and displayed threatening behavior toward a fellow teacher, and the Daejeon Office of Education had recommended that the incident be reported to the police; the principal did not file a complaint even though the perpetrator's actions constituted a legal violation; and the principal failed to detect the perpetrator's unauthorized absence from the workplace on the day of the incident.
Additionally, the vice principal, who was responsible for managing teachers' attendance, failed to report the perpetrator's unauthorized absence to the principal, did not confirm whether the perpetrator had left work, and did not share information about the perpetrator's unusual behavior with after-school care staff or other relevant personnel.
Furthermore, the head of the relevant department at the district education office, which oversees the school, was found to have received a report from the principal about the perpetrator's unusual behavior and recognized it as an urgent matter, but failed to report it immediately to superiors, did not launch an immediate investigation, and concluded the investigation without interviewing the perpetrator teacher even after visiting the school for the investigation.
The Ministry of Education stated that it has notified the Daejeon Office of Education of the investigation results and will do its utmost to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.
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