by AMANDA LYNCH-FOSTER

Disgruntled teachers at Alexandra School have reached a stalemate with principal Jeff Broomes.

The teachers, along with the Barbados Secondary Teachers' Union (BSTU), will be heading
to the Ministry of Education this morning to discuss their concerns, while Broomes himself will be taking the issue to his unions – the Barbados Union of Teachers and the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools.

On Friday, several teachers at the St Peter school went on a wildcat strike, spurred by a letter which Broomes sent to a dozen of their number. The letter was over the issue of their whereabouts on Teachers' Professional Day last month and a request which had been made for verification of their attendance at the BSTU workshop held that day. It stated that as they had not done so, they had been marked absent from duty for that day, which would result in a loss of pay for that day.

At the time, teachers called for the letter to be withdrawn and expressed a number of other concerns which they had with Broomes' management style.
They reportedly gave him a deadline of yesterday afternoon
by which to retract the letter,
but Broomes declined on Friday
and again yesterday.

Speaking to the DAILY NATION yesterday, Broomes maintained that "there's nothing to meet on regarding this matter", insisting that his actions were in keeping with his "responsibility to supervise teachers".

BSTU president Mary Redman said they were hoping that the
issue would be resolved at today's
9 a.m. meeting.

The BSTU held a meeting with their members at the school yesterday, following which a delegation went to the principal to discuss the issue.

"We went to the principal to enquire whether having had time
to review and consult, he had reconsidered his initial position
of not withdrawing the letter. He refused to meet with us and advised that any concerns we had should be put in writing and left with his secretary," stated Redman.