It’s a case of bad timing.
That’s how the majority of online readers feel about the proposed transfer of about 20 teachers from Alexandra School to other schools across the island.
They weighed in the issue, which surfaced days before the start of the new school term and in their opinion will cause some serious dislocation for students, particularly taking exams.
Some teachers at the St Peter school have received letters detailing their shifts to other schools. Similarly, teachers from other schools will also be relocating to Alexandra.
Included in the teacher transfers are Principal Jeff Broomes who is said to be heading to Parkinson School, while the principal there Orson Alleyne is making the shift to head Alexandra School. The Alexandra School teacher Amaida Greaves, the teacher at the centre of the dispute, was also to be transferred to Harrison College.
Since the announcement of these transfers, however, there have been some developments, including reports that at least three teachers who were to be shifted, included Greaves, will now remain at the St Peter school.
Readers have been vocal on this controversial issue when we asked them if they agreed with the personnel changes that have been made at The Alexandra School, and if the timing was right or wrong?
Cassandra Bowen: “We waste a lot of money in this country trying to right wrongs and it is time that we take a look at the bigger picture and really see what is happening underneath the situation itself. It seems to me that the school system is headed for some trouble since the teachers that are placed at Alexandra were never part of the problem, and to make matters worse when you are preparing students for exams who would want to move at such a time. I believe that this situation could have been dealt with at a different level and the players involved could have been moved over a period of time and so avert all the unnecessary problems that will now prevail. Will we ever learn? Having power and using it unwisely has never been in the best interest of anyone. Just need to know now who will really feel the pinch? Seems to me that the children are the ones who have gotten the bad deal. We need to care about the children, since they are our future, if we treat them like this what is going to happen to us when we are standing in the pension line and they are behind the counter. The timing is very wrong people.”
Lisa Hinkson: “First of all [it is] a waste of time and taxpayers’ money. In this whole saga the only persons who will be affected are the children….”
Wayne T Griffith: “Long before the expensive inquiry, Bajans knew that the solution was to relocate and/or retire the staff. However, it is baffling that these changes would come long after the academic year began in September 2012 in the middle of the school year. The fact that the changes were made without prior discussion with the affected teachers or their unions strikes me as outside our normal social partnership protocols. The Alexandra drama has really tarnished its reputation and is indicative of a failure in leadership at all levels.”
Carlton Irish: “I am wondering what could have possibly been the mindset of the one(s) who would have sat and discussed this issue and concocted this particular ‘way forward’? To what information did they refer to arrive at this insanity? What exactly were they trying to achieve? A resolution? I find that very difficult to believe. They would have had the Waterman Commission’s Report as a resource, after all we DID pay $600 000 for it. Yet, they foist this madness upon the school system at this time. What or who on earth is informing the thought (loosely used!) and actions of those at the Ministry of Education and the Public Service Commission? This is an untenable action with terrible implications for students and ominous ones for the labour movement on a whole.”
More views on this controversial issue in tomorrow’s SUNDAY SUN
