Alexandra probe starts Monday

THE COMMISSION OF Inquiry into The Alexandra School dispute will begin hearing evidence Monday at 9:30 a.m. despite calls by counsel for a two-day delay to gather related statements and documents.
When the inquiry officially opened yesterday at the Garfield Sobers Complex in Wildey, St Michael, Queen’s Counsel Vernon Smith, who is representing Alexandra principal Jeff Broomes, asked sole Commissioner, retired Justice Frederick Waterman, for “a little more time” to obtain the material since Broomes himself had been working constantly up to yesterday and had been unable to present all the requisite documents.
Counsel for the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), Hal Gollop, said he also had similar constraints and was still trying to provide a list of those to appear before the commission and their accompanying statements.
Gollop also argued that by giving him time to get these statements, it would enable the commission to “get its teeth into the evidence of all the teachers” as soon as possible.