IMMEDIATE HOSTILITY GREETED drama teacher Carl “Alff” Padmore when he entered the Alexandra School eight years ago, and was followed by ongoing tension between him and his department head, Gail Street-Jules.Testifying to the Commission of Inquiry into the school’s industrial dispute at the Gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Complex today, Padmore said on his first day while meeting fellow teachers at a staff meeting, he extended his hand to greet English head of department Margo Clarke, and was stunned when she did not take his hand and told him, “this is not how we do it, and Mr Broomes knows this”.“I was shocked, and just stood there staring,” said Padmore, who got the job after seeing principal Jeff Broomes at a cricket match and inquiring about a vacancy.Saying he had applied and had been interviewed by Broomes and a former board chairman of the school, Padmore added that throughout his seven-year tenure he was under pressure to “pick a side” between those who supported and did not support Broomes, and was told “Broomes was doing foolishness, which was never explained”.He said his own view of the principal was that the school had won ten NIFCA awards in drama under his watch; Broomes had helped students, including West Indies strike bowler Kemar Roach, who had been written off by some teachers as failures, and his programmes were designed for the betterment of the school.
Full reports from today’s sitting of the Commission of Inquiry in tomorrow’s WEEKEND NATION
