BSTU president Mary Redman (right) addressing the protesting Alexandra School teachers yesterday at the union's Belleville, St Michael headquarters.

by DONNA SEALY

STUDENTS at Alexandra School want answers.

Concerned about the impact of protest action on their education, president of the Students' Council, Christaneisha Soleyn, called in chairman of the board of management Joan Williams yesterday to get information.

Williams heard the concerns of those members of the council as well as members of the drama group in the hall.

Only a handful of the 18-member council went to school. They were part of the 240 students, ten teachers, principal Jeff Broomes and his deputy, Victor Johnson, who attended the Queen Street, St Peter school while about 36 teachers staged protest action over an alleged breach of the agreement reached on Monday between the board of management, the Barbados Secondary Teachers' Union (BSTU), and Broomes.

The teachers first walked off the job on November 10 after some received letters from Broomes asking them to verify their attendance at Teachers' Professional Day activity organised by the BSTU on October 20.

The students, including Soleyn, her deputy, Ajani Layne, and public relations officer Tiffany Cozier, told the DAILY NATION yesterday students had no idea what was going on and when they tried to get answers from teachers, they were told it was not their concern.

"Right now we are just confused. We don't know when this will end. The basic concern for me as a fifth former is when classes will continue as normal; we have deadlines for SBAs. Are we to strike? Are we to rant and rave?" Soleyn asked.

The council commended the behaviour of their colleagues, noting students tried to continue with their classes as usual, with help from peers.

One student said he thought they should protest the teachers' action but Williams said she would not support this.

Members of the drama group, who copped six NIFCA awards this year, were equally concerned about their lack of preparation for a performance in St Lucia next month.

Theatre arts teacher Carl Padmore, one of the ten who turned up for work yesterday, said they were expected to represent Barbados and needed to rehearse so they could bring home the gold.