The director of the Escher Conservatoire, Jean Halsdorf, has been placed on gardening leave accused of misconduct.
The decision to place Halsdorf, who has been director since 2022, on leave was first reported by the Tageblatt newspaper and public broadcaster 100.7 on Tuesday afternoon.
It follows a letter, sent to the parents of the students of the Conservatoire and seen by the Luxemburger Wort, stating that a decision to place Halsdorf on leave had been made following a complaint relating to his conduct.
In an interview with the Luxemburger Wort, the mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette, Christian Weis, confirmed that the council’s college of aldermen had received a letter on Monday from a member of staff containing specific allegations against Halsdorf concerning misconduct.
The college of aldermen then decided to initiate a suspension procedure against Halsdorf and forwarded the dossier to the police and the public prosecutor’s office, explained Weis.
The municipality has initiated the suspension process with the government’s committee for disciplinary intervention (Commissariat du gouvernement chargé de l’instruction disciplinaire).
A suspension can only be granted following a lengthy process. Halsdorf will continue to remain on leave and receive his salary while the process is ongoing and the allegations are investigated.
(This article was first published by the Luxembourger Wort. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by Lucrezia Reale).
(This article was updated at 20:50 on 1 July 2025 after the mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette retracted part of his earlier statement mentioning the specific nature of the alleged misconduct)