An inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing at San Andrea School has concluded that several claims made by its former assistant head were unsubstantiated but singled out school top management for failing to take disciplinary action in numerous situations, the school said on Wednesday.

Judge David Scicluna’s 73-page report, commissioned by the school board, also pointed to a historically pervasive attitude of bullying and arrogance, and warned that “a school cannot be run as a fiefdom”.

And it said there were various red flags over how the private school was managing its finances. 

The retired judge’s report was compiled after hearing the testimony of 65 witnesses and wading through numerous documents. It also makes a list of 30 recommendations to promote accountability and better governance at the school.

San Andrea did not publish the full copy of the Scicluna inquiry and instead sent out a press release summarising the report findings to the media. Parents were given a redacted version of the two reports due to data protection considerations. 

Trevor Templeman made claims of financial irregularities against San Andrea's former chairman. Photo: Facebook

Judge Scicluna's inquiry is one of two separate probes commissioned by the school in the wake of allegations made by Trevor Templeman, a former assistant head who accused the school board's former chairman, Kevin Spiteri, of having defrauded the school out of hundreds of thousands of euro. 

Templeman claimed that a member of staff was paid €25,000 to keep quiet about the Spiteri issue and that the school reassigned him different duties using trumped-up cyberbullying charges.

Apart from the Scicluna inquiry, San Andrea has also commissioned Big Four audit firm PWC to dig into Templeman's claims of financial mismanagement. 

Initial findings indicate that the money Templeman claimed was siphoned out of the school was actually used to build the multipurpose hall and on extensive refurbishment, the school said in its statement on Wednesday. 

Financial mismanagement

Judge Scicluna's report did, however, identify a list of inconsistencies and red flags over past cases of financial mismanagement. 

The school said it will be delving deeper into the matter to ensure proper structures are in place and to determine if there is scope for legal action. It did not elaborate further.

The inquiry noted the clique-like nature of the relationship between Templeman, school head Stefania Bartolo, assistant head Ruth Azzopardi, and past board chairman Kevin Spiteri, whose company KJM Enterprise carried out the extensive works on the Multipurpose Hall and refurbishment works. 

Spiteri's company made over €3 million from works at the school over a number of years and San Andrea also rented a warehouse from him after he stepped down from his role as board chairman.

The report findings will be shared with staff and parents in the coming days, ahead of an information meeting this week, the school said.

San Andrea’s school board said: “These past months have been a painful journey for all those who have the school’s best interests at heart. It has also been a crucial learning curve and we are now focusing all our attention to ensure that together with the educators, staff, and parents we can rebuild trust and implement the necessary changes.”

The school said it has already set up an independent Strategic Review Committee and has started to implement the structures and procedures required for proper governance to take the school forward. An audit sub-committee has also been established to primarily ensure transparency, accountability and good governance within the institution.

Whoever loves the school does not entertain and spread unsubstantiated allegations- Judge

According to the statement, the inquiring judge stated that whoever loves the school does not entertain and spread unsubstantiated allegations, no matter how serious they may be, “particularly if based only on hearsay evidence and not direct proof”.

He said that while the school board had been doing its utmost to act responsibly and investigate all the allegations, some were more “intent on spreading still unsubstantiated allegations which could not only tarnish the reputation of individuals but, even if unwittingly, that of the school… educators, staff, parents and ultimately the children”.

Recommendations in the inquiry urge the dissemination of policies, covering bullying, whistleblowing, child protection, and the use of social media; enhanced communication. It said standard operating procedures and procurement policies should be place and encouraged the school to build on its core values of reason, respect, responsibility, among others.

It also recommends that all major donations should be accurately registered, receipts issued, and donors informed of how the money was used.

The school said that from the time that the allegations first came to light last October to date, Templeman and school head Stefania Bartolo have resigned, while assistant head Ruth Azzopardi has been suspended.

Reacting to the conclusions, the present school board added: “This whole exercise has been an eye-opener where these situations threatened the very ethos of our school. It is thanks to the commitment of our excellent teachers and dedicated parents, that San Andrea remains one of the best schools on the island.”

Inquiry: timeline of events and key findings

The school issued the following timeline of events and explained that there were two separate cases involving assistant head Trevor Templeman that the school board treated as separate:

1. Criminal proceedings of cyberbullying filed against Templeman by a parent over an Instagram post;

2. Allegations of fraud, financial mismanagement and wrongdoing, which Templeman aired publicly.

The school board learned about the criminal proceedings after they were contacted by parents and in July 2022 wrote to Templeman requesting him to disclose the status of the case. In the statement, the school said the judge concluded that the board was meticulous in keeping both cases separate. 

In August 2022, the board decided to reassign Templeman to other duties as as a precaution.

Templeman complained through his lawyer that this change of role was not acceptable as it went contrary to his contract of employment and was not compatible with his role as assistant head. It was pointed out that Templeman’s employment contract states specifically that the employee was bound to perform “any other duties which from time to time may be delegated by the Head of School”.

The judge observes that the reassignment of duties would “undoubtedly have come as a shock to Templeman”, particularly in view of the original stance taken by the school head in February 2022 when it dismissed any ownership of the situation. But this does not mean that the school board’s admittedly late decision to transfer him was incorrect. It must be said that the school board did not take the more extreme measure of suspending Templeman. However, until the court case was decided, he was not to have contact with children and had to move to a different office. This move never came about — Templeman went on sick leave from August 30 to September 2, 2022, and then from September 7, until his resignation on October 14, 2022.

What did the board find regarding the fraud allegations?

Concurrently, another event was playing out before the June 1, 2022 allegations.

The judge paints a picture of a clique of people where familiarity reigned between Templeman, Bartolo, assistant head Ruth Azzopardi, and past board chairman Kevin Spiteri, whose company KJM Enterprise carried out the extensive works on the multipurpose hall and refurbishment works. This “very close relationship saw them eating out together regularly, going on boat trips and at a point in 2022 even starting to organise a trip to Sicily”.

Templeman was considered to be Bartolo’s right-hand man, and Bartolo herself says she used to refer to him as “Trevor the Treasure”.

However, dynamics changed in May 2022, when Bartolo encouraged Templeman to apply for the post of Early/Middle school head. Despite displaying interest, he stopped short of applying when he realised he would have to move office and away from a colleague with whom he worked extremely well. Witnesses testified that Templeman’s attitude towards Bartolo went from constantly eulogising her to suddenly vowing “to make her suffer” and to “do anything to bring her down”.

Soon after, no longer having faith in Bartolo, on June 1, 2022, Templeman went to then school board chairman Alex Tortell with a series of allegations.

Although the school board clearly worked to keep the two cases separate, the judge notes that Templeman “lumped everything together” claiming his transfer was a result of the June 1 criminal allegations. The judge adds: “It cannot be said that [Templeman’s] change of role, title and office could be a form of persecution and intimidation… the school board was carrying out its duty.”

The missing €200,000 and the use of a warehouse

In the months following the June 1, 2022 meeting, the school board kept insisting with Templeman to submit his allegations in writing, requests that kept being ignored, until eventually the school board met with him on September 20, 2022, and he made a series of allegations, mainly:

•  That former chairman Kevin Spiteri had taken €200,000 from the school and no one knew what had become of these funds.
• That the former school administrator had got to know what Spiteri was doing and Spiteri gave him €25,000 to keep his mouth shut.
• That Spiteri had entered into a contract for his warehouse so that when his term of office was over he would continue being paid by the school.

At this point, the judge reiterates that the alleged financial irregularities are being dealt with by PWC with whom he held an online meeting to discuss a number of issues raised during the hearing of evidence. 

It was established that the school’s auditors had called to inquire about the sum of €200,000 registered as miscellaneous. Bartolo admits to being furious about this news and she spoke to Templeman and Azzopardi about this. According to testimony, she alleged that Spiteri had “robbed” the school.

Eventually, the invoices were traced and the auditors were satisfied. However, Bartolo failed to immediately inform Templeman and Azzopardi, until later.

Templeman went on to make allegations of financial irregularities on how Spiteri, through KJM Enterprises, had made approximately €3 million. Spiteri testified that this sum had been made over eight years and included the multipurpose hall, employees’ wages, materials used and that payment was always made against invoices provided.

When giving evidence, Templeman referred to further financial irregularities. He exhibited a bag containing shredded paper, which he claimed contained documents discarded following the financial administrator’s resignation and which he said had been passed on to him by a cleaner. The judge concluded these allegations were hearsay.

It was established that this claim of hush money, was actually a severance pay package.

The judge established that Spiteri had a 2,000 square metre warehouse and when the school used to empty classes to carry out works, the furniture was held there. When Spiteri’s term as chairman was coming to an end, he informed the School Board he could no longer offer free use of the warehouse.

This was discussed at board level and since his rate matched other commercial rates it was decided to rent it. Eventually, after the new board was appointed it was established that not all the space was being utilised and Tortell, the new chairman, said he was not happy with the arrangements nor with the fact that the warehouse belonged to the previous chairman’s company. He had started the process to terminate the contract but this was superseded by events.

On school head Stefania Bartolo, the judge noted that many witnesses spoke highly of her, but he went on to list a number of instances where she should have known to act better and where she failed to take disciplinary action.

Delving into detail on inappropriate situations and interpersonal relations, the inquiring judge concludes that: “A school cannot be run as a fiefdom. It is intended to prepare students for life not only through instruction but also through education… Aggressiveness, arrogance, badmouthing, insults, swearing are always condemnable let alone in an educational institution. Where disciplinary action is required, then there should not be any hindrance in taking it; objectivity is essential."