Minister Slob appoints a new interim director at Avicenna College in Rotterdam. Things have been restless at the Islamic secondary school since the departure of rector and administrator Wim Littooij at the end of last month.
Littooij had to leave the supervisory board after an investigation by the Bureau Integrity of Dutch Municipalities showed that he had behaved “impure” and “cross-border”. An acting director was appointed. Out of dissatisfaction with Littooij’s departure, half of the staff reported sick.
Minister Slob commissioned an external expert to conduct an investigation. The latter concludes in his advice that the acting director must leave, because his approach is “insufficiently de-escalating”. A new interim director must put things in order as soon as possible.
Slob: students now the victim
The members of the supervisory board must also step down on 1 October, in order to “make room for necessary improvements”, the advice states.
Minister Slob and the acting board have adopted the recommendations. Due to the conflict over Littooij’s departure, many students are not taught now. “It is unacceptable to me that students are the victims”, Slob writes to the House of Representatives. According to the minister, Avicenna College “fulfills an important role in the Rotterdam educational field”.
Restart Ibn Ghaldoun
Avicenna College was established in 2014 as a restart of the Ibn Ghaldoun school, which went bankrupt after exam fraud by students. The school started again with a different name and a new management with Littooij at the helm and was for a long time seen as an example of a success story.
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