A HEARTBROKEN former head teacher has told her ex-pupils: “I did not abandon you.”

Speaking exclusively to the Reporter after resigning from her post at Bonhill Primary School last month, Maria Seery alleges she was not allowed to say goodbye to her staff, parents and children.

Her nine “exemplary” years at the helm of the award-winning school came to an abrupt end last month amid a reported feud between herself and some parents surrounding disabled parking bay use in the school’s car park.

With Bonhill Primary staff allegedly under local authority instruction not to contact her, Ms Seery said she feels she has been “made into the criminal”.

Many parents have praised Ms Seery in online petitions demanding her reinstatement.

A tearful Ms Seery, 55, told the Reporter: “I’d just like to thank my parents, my children and my staff for their support.

“I just apologise that I could not say goodbye to them because I wasn’t allowed.

“The things that they said on the petitions are so, so overwhelming, and I don’t want them to think for a minute that I abandoned them.

“I did not abandon them. I was just put in a position where I could not come back to the school because I could not be investigated by the people who had pressurised me.

I feel it’s me who’s been made the criminal because no one is allowed to speak to me.

“I devoted years of my life to that school. Bonhill was my whole life. I have lost my child, if you like. I nurtured it, I developed it and made it the success it is.

“I think I’ve lost everything. I’ve got nothing else to lose.”

As the Reporter revealed last month, the news of Ms Seery’s June 14 resignation sent shockwaves through the school community.

A row was said to have broken out between the head teacher and a small number of parents who claimed Ms Seery had stopped them using disabled parking bays at the school.

Revealing her side of the events that led to her resignation, Ms Seery outlined the action she took regarding car parking policy.

She said: “The car park in Bonhill Primary School is a private car park. It does have two disabled bays but these are not the bays that apply to the Disability Act – they are actually to conform to the Employee Act. I did have staff who have mobility problems.

“As far as I was concerned there should have been no issue because it was a private car park.

“I was not exercising Maria Seery policy, I was exercising West Dunbartonshire policy.

“The council spokesperson said in the press staff car parks are private – they are for staff and visitors to the school.

“Parents are not visitors to the school when they are picking up their children. That’s the policy and that’s what I applied.

“All car parks in schools are under the jurisdiction of the head teacher. Why? Because of Dunblane. If something happened to a child, a parent or staff member or their cars, I’m ultimately responsible.”

Ms Seery says she referred the issue to her line manager at West Dunbartonshire Council – but that she was then told to leave a bay open for a parent.

She says that after experiencing what she called “vile comments” on social media, she turned to her managers again in hope they would back her.

But instead she says she was “pressurised” to the point of feeling she had no choice but to resign.

“My line manager said that more or less I had to leave the bay open,” she said, “and I said that if I’m made to do that then I will resign.

“My line manager did not come into the school, did not speak to me, but was just firing off emails to me demanding to know why the gates were shut. And I just felt increasing pressure and that’s when I resigned.”

Ms Seery said education managers wanted her to withdraw her resignation – but that she stuck by her decision, because if she had changed her mind, she would then have been “investigated” by the very managers she felt had not supported her.

And she slammed line managers for allegedly effectively “bullying” the school’s staff into not contacting her after she left.

She continued: “After I had resigned I was told, a week later, that I would be investigated.

And who was going to do the investigation? The same line managers who had actually pressurised me.

“I just felt, ’I’ve done nothing wrong’. I have upheld what was council policy, and I was going to be investigated.

“I would say that the [Bonhill] staff have been told not to contact me. They’ve been reminded that they are West Dunbartonshire employees. The inference is if they contact me there will be repercussions for them.”

More than a month later, Ms Seery says that “vile lies and untruths” about her are still appearing on social media and are affecting both her and her family.

And she hit out at the council for allegedly not thanking her for her nine years of hard work at Bonhill, including more than 30 award wins in the last four years alone.

“I have received no letter of thanks for nine years of exemplary service,” she said.

“My track record is outstanding. Shame on West Dunbartonshire Council for discarding one of its hard-working employees.”

Asked how she felt the management culture in the council needed to change, she said: “They [the line managers] need to support the head teachers. In particular when applying what is not their policy but West Dunbartonshire policy.”

Ms Seery says she now fears she will struggle to find a new job because of the circumstances of her departure – and the council’s alleged attitude towards her.

“Part of me thinks I could retire, but I am a leader,” she said.

I will apply for other posts, but my concern would be that I would probably not get a reference that would be fair.

“Who would employ me now after all of this?”

A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “We have provided extensive support to Ms Seery throughout her employment. We are disappointed and regret her decision to resign.”