Islamic School Amsterdam board must go, Wiersma insists

Education Minister Dennis Wiersma stands by his decision that the board of the Islamic School Amsterdam (ISA) must resign because of mismanagement, which he announced at the end of August. He has not reconsidered his decision after the ISA's response.

"I had, and have no confidence in a sustainable repair of the many deficiencies found," the minister wrote in a letter to the Tweede Kamer. In the past 10 years, nine inspection reports have been issued into the administrative actions of the organization. According to Wiersma, this shows that "these board members are not capable of properly running a school."

The board must resign by May 2023 at the latest. The minister also wants the Islamic school umbrella to strengthen the board as soon as possible with three supervisory board members and to appoint a director before the end of this school year. The As-Siddieq schools fall under the ISA. These are the primary schools al Maes in Amsterdam-West, al Jawhara in Amsterdam-Oost and al Yaqoet in Amsterdam-Noord.

According to the minister, a long-running administrative conflict at the ISA has led to mismanagement and has also caused a lot of damage. According to him, the quality of education is under pressure and, moreover, the directors and many staff members lack confidence in the board.

With this designation, the minister has opted for one of the toughest measures he can impose on schools. He could also have opted for a financial sanction. But Wiersma refrains from that because he doubts whether the problems at the school umbrella will be solved by this. He hopes in this way to provide more future prospects for parents, management and employees.

The decision was taken in response to a report from the Education Inspectorate. This states that the school umbrella organization does not have the administrative organization and internal control in order and that the board is not taking any action to do anything about it.