IT SEEMS to be a case of out of sight out of mind for Jeff Broomes when it comes to Alexandra School.
Stating that he does not think about the school, but is still in contact with students, Broomes said yesterday that he had put the saga at the school he headed from 2002 until December 2012 behind him.
Just over a year after being transferred to the Parkinson Memorial School, Broomes told the MIDWEEK NATION he had moved on with his life after he had a heart-to-heart talk with his daughter before reporting for work at Parkison.
“Then I finally realised that these are children and teachers that really want to work with me and I can make a difference, and the warm welcome I received from the school,” he said, adding that there was no legal action pending.
“I’m exceptionally happy. You’re working with people that when they have an issue they look you in the face and tell you, and you don’t have to worry about that. This is a different environment from what I’ve been in for the last few years.
Not that everybody supports everything I do, but when we have issues we sit down and discuss them. And, at the end of the day, people realize that a decision has to be made.”
Above all, Broomes said the biggest difference is the major improvement in his health.
“My blood pressure has gone down, and I’m working with people who seemingly want to work with me,” Broomes said.
Broomes did not report for several weeks after being transferred because he was out sick.
The last few years of his tenure there were marked by heightened tension between he and staff represented by the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), some of which resulted in the withdrawal of teaching services from the St Peter School.
Following recommendations in a report coming out of a Frederick Waterman-led inquiry into the affairs of the school, Broomes was among 40 people transferred to and from the school in December 2012.
(YB)
