Taipei teacher rehiring quizzed
KO U-TURN?Music teacher Hsiao Hsiao-ling said that if the mayor had used ‘so-called transitional justice’ as a means to humiliate her, then he should ‘take it back’
By Sean Lin / Staff reporter
The Control Yuan yesterday asked the Taipei City Government to explain the legal basis behind its decision to rehire music teacher Hsiao Hsiao-ling (蕭曉玲).
In a letter signed by Control Yuan President Chang Po-ya (張博雅), the agency said that Hsiao’s dismissal by Zhongshan Municipal Junior High School had been upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court and should not be repealed.
It asked the local government to explain what its legal basis was when it overruled the court, saying in September that it would have the Taipei Department of Education rescind the dismissal order.
Hsiao accused the school of persecuting her, including through firing her in 2008 after she initiated a lawsuit against then-Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) over Hau’s “one guideline, one curriculum” education policy.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) last month told the Taipei City Council that rescinding Hsiao’s dismissal order does not mean she would be rehired and that an evaluation panel would be created to consider her reinstatement.
Ko previously said that the city would compensate Hsiao for lost wages, totaling about NT$4 million (US$127,150), a decision that drew criticism from Taipei city councilors of the pan-blue camp.
Hsiao yesterday decried what she said was a U-turn by Ko.
“If the so-called transitional justice that you claim to value so much is just a tool to humiliate me a second time, take it back,” Hsiao told a news conference in Taipei, which was attended by members of the Humanistic Education Foundation and the Taiwan North Society.
Hsiao said that she would not accept more “institutional violence” like Hau subjected her to nine years ago.
She denied having called a former student a “lowlife” — an accusation leveled against her by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) and reportedly among the reasons she was fired.
That term was directed at former Zhongshan student affairs director Chu Wu-wo (朱毋我), who Hsiao said climbed up to a window to photograph her in a preparation room adjacent to a classroom after she turned down Chu’s request that she submit to an inspection of the work area.
She dismissed questions over whether she had called students “tone deaf” and “cheeky,” as Wang has alleged.
Wang should provide evidence of the accusations, Hsiao said.
Author and civil advocate Neil Peng (馮光遠) accused Ko of “flip-flopping” in policy regarding the Hsiao case and other issues.
Ko, an independent, exploited social angst built up during a string of massive protests before the 2014 Taipei mayoral election and got himself elected, but he has never participated in a social movement, which shows that he lacks core values and would be readily swayed by issues he deems most beneficial for his re-election campaign, Peng said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒) said that Ko’s comments last month were due to political pressure from KMT Taipei city councilors, because the city’s budget proposals are to be reviewed during the current council session.
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