ALEXANDRA SCHOOL PRINCIPAL JEFF BROOMES responded yesterday point by point to issues raised by the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union.
Here is his response, in summary, to BSTU charges:
• The remarks of the principal at the speech day are a violation of the Code Of Professional Conduct.
“I find it difficult to accept that the principal making an honest and direct reference to a well-known occurrence during the school year could in any way be a violation of professional conduct. It was my duty to report the truth and the facts (be they good or bad) and I carried it out as I should and would again.
It would seem to me that the actions of the teacher who had sat with me and agreed on the changed assignments, who had been spoken to on two occasions (once initiated by her) and who had been written to by me, were the actual violations of the identified code. I will also invite anyone to show me the specific code, rule, regulation, condition of service or law of which I was in breach.
It would also be instructive to hear why the claims about breaches of professional ethics were not voiced by the BSTU when most of these same teachers on strike were seen traversing the school compound with placards and chants in front of the entire student body.
Finally, it is noteworthy that even at this advanced stage, no teacher, shop steward [or] union has ever spoken to me to raise any objection to the comments I made. I have simply heard of strikes and read things in the newspaper and other places, including copies of letters informing of specific actions. No complaint or grievance has ever been raised with me.
• The principal is guilty of the violation of recruitment procedures.
It is the norm for the secretary treasurer to collate the applications for posts and pass them on to the principal.
I, in turn, have consistently sent them on to the heads of department and the deputy principal to do a shortlist.
I rarely play any part in this except to at times identify someone that I supported to be shortlisted or to be eliminated, as I have had to on a couple of occasions because of an absence of the relevant qualifications for the position.
These are then sent back to the secretary treasurer who then coordinates interviews for the agreed times. All persons to the interviews are invited by the office of the secretary treasurer.
I, as principal, attend and give my honest assessments and views based on what are consistent with the needs of the school and the additional skills that persons may bring to [the] wider school programme.
• Institutional appraisal
During the much publicized previous industrial dispute, I wrote to the Ministry of Education and requested a full institutional appraisal . . . .
The appraisal was conducted, the report laid and discussed with staff under the chairmanship of the Chief Education Officer. It did not show up what the union thought it would or wanted it to, so they then attacked it, calling everything about it flawed. Unfortunately, during the meeting a somewhat unsavoury back-and-forth between different sections of the staff evolved, and I left the meeting not wanting to be part of what was taking place.
• Mr Broomes on substitution
There is some validity in this complaint. Although I want very much to remain in the classroom using my training and experience to the benefit of our children, there have been times when other administrative duties have kept me from this class. On those occasions, I have asked different persons to supervise the children in my absence. This is done with the clear knowledge that I would not have been able to ask the deputy to make a substitution because the absence would not have been planned or previously known. It would therefore have been wrong to disrupt her prepared substitution schedule.
• Advertisements for vacant positions at Alexandra
This union is seeking to get too deeply into the affairs of the school and I will not allow that. Suffice it to know that the two vacancies at the school (library assistant and secretary treasurer) have been addressed by me and this is known by the powers that be.”
In a statement that detailed verbal attacks on several teachers as well as his “anguish” at the accusations, Broomes added: “I will conclude these responses by recalling that despite my public comment of ‘going to my grave before meeting with the BSTU’, my representatives and I actually had approximately five or six meeting with the union under the chairmanship of the Minstry of Education. Just about all of the issues that they are now revisiting were discussed.
“The union then took out a full-page advertisement to make a case against me. They later involved the political directorate by way of the Minister of Education . . . . My representatives and I later met with the minister and, in the spirit of compromise, accepted the minister’s explanation and saw the issue at an end.” (RJ)
