Combermere PTA makes plea

THE PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION (PTA) of Combermere School is still hoping the students are not disadvantaged because of the closure.

Addressing a tour group of teachers, union representative, staff from the Ministry of Education and the team of experts after a tour of the school on Monday, president Rolerick Sobers sought to keep their concern in focus.

“We know what has been done and what is to come. I just want to put a reminder out there for everybody to have on the top of their agenda that the first of May is approaching very soon. That is the opening for the external examinations, and the students need to be ready for that. So the parents are very much hoping that their children, and wards, will be prepared and ready come exam time,” Sobers stated.

Head of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, Mary Redman, hastened to add that the parents needed to play a part in ensuring that their children are ready as well.

“The teachers at Combermere have certainly always done their part in the midst of illness, in the midst of ongoing sewer gases for over 20 years. And therefore I just want to make it very clear that in the midst of all of that, in the midst of paying hundreds of dollars to doctors to deal with health issues, these teachers at this school have gone above and beyond. I want to put that on the record and they will continue to do that,” Redman insisted.

Even as teachers raised their voices, reminding of statements made at the joint PTA/Old Scholars’ meeting to the effect that many of them do not teach and demanding a retraction, Sobers maintained that only “some of” them had gone “beyond”. (YB)