Parents of pupils at a primary school have joined staff in calling for its head teacher to resign following claims of poor leadership.
Employees at Uplands Junior, in Highfields, have called on education bosses to request the resignation of principal Tim Luckcock and chairman of governors Abid Matak due to an "irretrievable breakdown in the relationship with staff".
A collective grievance against Mr Luckcock, which states it is from all the staff at Uplands, was sent to Leicester City Council last month.
Despite the school having a good Ofsted rating, the grievance makes claims about Mr Luckcock's management style, frequent and "unexplained" absences, lack of communication between staff, parents and children and a decision to axe up to 10 teaching assistant posts by the end of this summer term, among others.
Concerns have also been raised separately about some posts by Mr Luckcock on Facebook, which were accompanied by a picture of him apparently wearing a turban, including one in which he stated: "Nearly gone native in Leicester."
A man who has a son and a daughter at the school said: "I believe the council needs to ask the whole of the governing body to resign – and Mr Luckcock – because they have no support from staff or parents."
The parent, who did not want to be named, said: "I think many of the parents don't even know who Mr Luckcock is because he's never seen.
"I'm also worried about the reduction in teaching assistants and what effect it will have on children."
The grievance against Mr Matak claims there is unnecessary interference in the management of the school and that budget elements have not yet been agreed.
It also claimed a one-off "discretionary payment" to Mr Luckcock was agreed by Mr Matak which had not been approved by the whole governing body.
In a letter to the Mercury, a Mr Patel, who said he was a parent at the school, said Mr Luckcock's Facebook statements were "an insult to anybody that lives in Leicester".
He said: "I believe it shows he has no respect for the people he is working with and the community he is working for.
"I am outraged that he is able to get away with this as a head teacher of a mainstream school."
Mr Patel said the statements offended all faiths. He demanded a public apology.
Mr Luckcock declined to comment on the issues and referred the Mercury to Leicester City Council.
However, he told BBC East Midlands he denied his Facebook posts had negative connotations, stating that the picture of him wearing a turban was taken during a Hindu religious festival in school to celebrate Diwali.
He said: "It's been taken completely out of context in a way that's designed to damage my reputation. It was not intended to be insensitive."
Mr Luckcock said "going native" was "a colloquial expression".
He said he was not poking fun at anyone's identity or religion and that he was Muslim.
A spokeswoman for the city council said: "We can confirm we have received a grievance from the trade unions.
"We have put a proposal to the school's governing body as to how this should be resolved, and are working with it to achieve this.
"We are not able to comment further at this stage in the grievance procedure.
"The Facebook posting understandably raises questions and the council and the governing body will be inviting Mr Luckcock to explain the circumstances around the photograph and the comments attributed to him."
