I HAVE HEARD the loud calls from the leaders of the teachers’ unions for the immediate expulsion of the young student for an alleged incident at Ellerslie School.
Is that really where they want to jump? Are we to sidestep investigation and ignore process? Wow!
I am very clear that if what is reported in the newspapers is true, the student is wrong and dead wrong. She would have to be insane to just up and inflict the alleged assault. If she is not insane, I need to know the antecedents that led her to those actions.
The response of the principal to suspend the child is the correct one. This now allows time for the open and honest investigation and the presentation of facts. These should then inform the most appropriate action to be taken relative the student and, if necessary, the teacher!
I know this delayed process may not please the respective union leaders, but do they really want to put a 13-year-old child out of school without due process. Is that the society in which we are to live now? I respect the law and will never agree to sidestep it.
Even if the police see an individual committing a murder, an investigation must still follow and a trial entered into. Eventually, the final judgment may be self-defence, manslaughter or murder. The facts lead to the eventual result. Same here.
Threat or ultimatum
The union may choose to forget, but I will always remember when two female teachers angrily slapped two male students in their faces in front of their friends. They expressed no annoyance, insisted on no punishment, but pushed some claim that the teachers were stressed.
The job of a teacher is difficult and made more so by some very egregious parents. We know that some children are led to believe that they are little angels who can do no wrong. When teachers stand firm for discipline, these parents try to make them into the devil incarnate.
Should this now lead to the teachers’ unions swiping around, ostensibly to keep themselves in the news? It seems as though almost weekly there is some threat or some ultimatum.
I served at the top level of the union for three years and never encouraged a strike of any sort. Indeed, a failed vote of no confidence was brought against me because I sought, through discussion, to help a teacher who was openly insubordinate and in dereliction of duty.
I have also been open in my views that teaching, like fire fighting and policing, should be seen as an essential service with all the adjoining restrictions. Teachers are absolutely crucial to the development and progress of our nation. There is nothing more essential than that.
There is so much more that the teachers unions could be fighting for. All teachers benefit from every negotiated settlement. With that in mind, I believe that the unions should push to ensure that all teachers at every level pay the professional fees that some call union dues. If we are professionals, let’s live it.
The unions must also continue the fight for the health and safety issues for their members and never compromise on them. Everyone in a workplace, be it school or business, should be confident that they are safe, comfortable and healthy. Nothing else should be acceptable.
The unions need, however, to be more even-handed. Don’t pull down for self-promotion. Accept that children and teachers are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Understand that teachers have a job because there are children to be taught. We need them and they need us.
Jeff Broomes is an experienced educator, principal and community organiser who also serves as vice president of the Barbados Cricket Association and director of the West Indies Cricket Board. Email: [email protected]