Embattled Parkinson Memorial School principal Jeff Broomes is defending his stewardship and has expressed alarm at the rubbishing of a timetable he constructed to help slow students get a second chance and to improve the overall quality of the school he took over almost two years ago.
Broomes, speaking at a Press conference organised by the National Union of Public Workers’, got the support of his union colleagues yesterday.
Holding up a copy of the Education Act and Regulations, Broome defended his involvement in the preparation of the school’s timetable which he said was his responsibility as principal. This was done with the help of three other teachers, one of whom dropped out.
“They changed the structure totally, eliminating the computer basic course, eliminating religious education in second form, eliminating the activities programme to help the Ministry’s initiative of the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence; eliminating things like community service for returning fifth formers and that disappointed me – that upset me. . . . . I came back to school and expressed my concerns. I heard that I changed things . . . We did a curriculum design in 2013 [that projected the work in the school until 2016] and every single member of staff had an opportunity for input.”
Broomes said that in his absence the timetable had been reduced significantly and he counted about 104 lessons taken out. (JS)
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