Emotions ran high today as the matter of a teacher’s issuing demerits escalated to essentially a protest by the majority of the staff members at Sadie Vernon Technical High School when Spanish teacher Kendle Esquivel decided to demerit a student for misconduct during his class this morning.
The student decided to complain to the principal Laura Baptist in the presence of chairlady Denise Neal, after which Neal became a part of the discussion over the demerit(s).
It is unclear what was actually said, but the debate then escalated to an argument where accusations were levied against both parties involved in the incident. This argument soon led to the police being called in, and the principal stepping in to try to dismiss the police.
As a result of this argument, a quick letter of suspension was given to Esquivel which reads:
“Dear Mr. Esquivel,
You are hereby informed that you are being suspended immediately until the board meets on March 3, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. This is as a result of your Gross Insubordination to the Administration and threat to the Chairlady. This is in accordance with Rule 93 (1) a; b and f in the Handbook of Policies and Procedures for the School Services.”
Amandala was able to secure a copy of the handbook section mentioned in the letter, which reads as follows:
“93. (1) The managing Authority of a school may institute disciplinary proceedings against any teacher or any other member of staff for any of the following matters:
(a)where the person conducts himself in a manner, whether in the course of his duty or not, inconsistent with the expressed or implied conditions of his service, or in a manner prejudicial to the efficient or effective operation of the school, or in a manner which otherwise brings the teaching profession into dispute or is considered inimical to the interests of education;
(b)where the person fails to perform his lawful duties or willfully disobeys legal orders given by those duly authorized to give such orders;
(f)for any conduct which may be physically, morally or otherwise harmful to the students or other members of staff.”
In solidarity with Esquivel, the majority of the teaching staff refused to continue teaching, which effectively ended classes for the day at third period this morning. According to the teachers, the basis for the support from the teachers for Esquivel is that “the administration is always questioning the actions of the teachers, but never the student. Discipline is now only for the teachers, but never for the students nowadays.”
They cited instances of how they have been unfairly treated, and that this is an ongoing problem for three years. Several teachers relayed alleged instances which suggest that the administration sides with the students and disrespects the teachers.
Unconfirmed allegations are that the principal allows the students to get away with habitual lateness and absence without any disciplinary actions.
“It is often a miracle to find majority of the students actually on-time at 8:00 a.m. when school actually starts,” said one teacher.
“It’s clear that the principal teaches the students not to respect the staff by putting ideas like we are corrupt and like …gossip,” said another teacher who wished to remain anonymous.
Some teachers have gone as far as to say that the principal is “incompetent” and “neglect her duties while sitting on the phone all day talking to the chairlady and parents while complaining about the teachers.”
“The students are only respectful to this principal because she allows many questionable things to happen, and which student will hate a teacher that is too relaxed with them?” commented one teacher.
The teachers say that the students use the administration to try to intimidate teachers out of meting out discipline to unruly students, making such comments as, “You can’t do anything to me because I will call the principal and the board on you.”
On the other side, students of fourth form refused to remain silent on the situation, noting that “the staff wants to rule.”
“The teachers only care about their pay and don’t worry about us students, and having us graduate. Whenever they have an issue, at home or with the administration, they take it out on us students by not making an effort to teach anything that day,” one student said.
“When the principal was on long-leave, there was an increase in unearned suspension, demerits and detention from these teachers because there was no one to stop them. They even went as far as demoting several students to third form, because they thought that these students weren’t prepared for fourth form,” another upset student said.
There are even allegations of alcohol on the school grounds brought by members of staff, the theft of confiscated electronic items, and the blatant disrespect for classroom protocol by some teachers.
The principal, vice-principal and chairlady either refused to comment or were unavailable for interviews.
Jahmoor Lopez, district education manager, and Carol Babb, deputy chief education officer, were present to try to calm the teachers and to try to facilitate effective communication between the affected parties. Babb assured the teachers that there will be a meeting with the chair of Sadie Vernon to address the concerns that are long-standing for the past three years.
Lopez also assured that there was a task force assigned to address this issue, as this was not the first time that it had been raised to the Ministry of Education.
Lopez commented, “It is truly unfortunate that the situation hasn’t been resolved, because we are back at square-one before the task force. The business of education is not just about the student, but as our slogan says, ‘It’s everybody’s business.’ So we need to address teachers’ issues properly, and hopefully they will be resolved.”
As it appears, this task force assigned to look at these issues at Sadie Vernon had made several suggestions for improvement, but the information was not properly disseminated to teachers, and as a result, the teachers felt that their concerns were ignored.
“We apologize for not following up, but when we didn’t hear anything else, we were grateful because we have hundreds of school to deal with,” Carol Babb said.
It is unclear whether Kendle Esquivel’s suspension still stands, or whether these allegations are true, but one thing is certain — the relations among the staff, the administration, and the students appear to be fractured until further notice.