The head of a Hong Kong special education secondary school who was fired over the weekend filed a complaint on Monday with the Labour Department claiming “unreasonable termination”.

The move came after principal Wong Lai-ting, who was sacked on Saturday, and about 10 teaching and administrative staff accused the board of Hong Kong Juvenile Care Centre Chan Nam Cheong Memorial School in Aberdeen of gross mismanagement at a press conference last Thursday and asked the government to step in.

The group said the board was trying to “paralyse the school operation” by “suppressing teachers”.

Wong spoke in a pre-recorded video clip at the press conference and other staff involved attended in person.

“If a school principal is involved in any misconduct, an independent investigation committee should be set up to look into the matter,” Wong said on Monday after the Labour Department complaint was lodged.

“They did not even meet me in person, they just fired me through an abrupt written notice.”

Wong said the termination violated the Education Ordinance and employment legislation and that she was considering taking her case to the Labour Tribunal as well.

The group last Thursday also complained that about 10 teachers at the 140-pupil school were still in the dark over whether their contracts would be renewed and that around five of the 25 teaching posts had not been filled.

Wong was later that day served with a warning letter by the board or the incorporated management committee, which accused her of a failure to help the management resolve the crisis and said there had been a loss of confidence in her.

The warning letter asked her to respond by Thursday, but Wong said she was given written notice of dismissal last Saturday, when she was on sick leave.

The school board said in the notice that its members had met last Wednesday and decided to terminate Wong’s contract on August 19.

The dismissal notice claimed Wong had acted improperly, ignored committee instructions and failed to discharge her duties as the school’s principal.

It also accused Wong of misconduct in the handling of finance and procurement matters and of supplying false information to the Education Bureau.

The letter said she had violated professionalism on administrative arrangements which affected the operation of the school, caused discord between the management committee and teaching staff and had brought the school into disrepute.

Principal Wong Lai-ting (on laptop screen) complained about poor management by the board just days before she was fired.

The notice said more than half the board’s members resolved at a special meeting that the committee should terminate Wong’s contract with immediate effect.

Mo Wai-ching, a veteran Chinese teacher at the school who will retire next month, said he wrote some letters to complain about other problems with management to the then board supervisor in January and an open letter on related matters to all staff.

But he said he was later given a written warning from the board’s new supervisor and told he should not release the open letter.

Wong Kin-ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Education Workers Union, said the incident was so serious it might affect the start of the school year and pupils’ education rights because of a lack of teachers.

He appealed to the government to intervene and get the school back on track.

A spokesman for the Education Bureau said it was following up on the complaints about the management of the school, as well as looking at its human resources, administrative and financial management, and had asked the relevant bodies to respond.

The bureau also demanded that the incorporated management committee review the school’s policies to ensure preparation for the new academic year would be a priority.

“The bureau, as the supervisor of the school, will definitely hold its management accountable and the school administration must be rectified,” the spokesman warned.

“Otherwise, the bureau will take decisive action to protect the pupils’ interest.”

A spokeswoman for the Labour Department said it could not comment on individual cases, but that it would carry out investigations of suspected breaches of the Employment Ordinance and that further action would be taken if required.

The school board has not responded to a request for comment.