Williams defends Godfrey High principal in dress code dispute
Published:Friday | September 16, 2022 | 12:14 AM
As school administrators and parents continue to draw battle lines in the long-running clash over students’ grooming policy, Minister of Education Fayval Williams said she is choosing to stand on the “side of discipline”.
The tumultuous clash has often resulted in students being barred from classes or entry to school compounds, owing to hair and uniform breaches.
Godfrey Stewart High in Westmoreland was the most recent flashpoint, where girls are mandated to wear skirts no shorter than five inches above the ankle and boys’ pants should not be less than 16 inches in diameter.
Williams has defended the principle and philosophy behind the school’s actions – despite controversial pronouncements by principal Emily Lawrence-Ricketts that long skirts would deter sexual predators.
The principal has also cited concerns about fondling or molestation on public transportation.
“... If a school or a teacher who has written a report to me under her signature says no student was told to leave the school, then I have to believe the teacher, or the principal, that that is what happened, until proven otherwise. I have to take the report of the principal,” Williams reiterated in an interview with The Gleaner Thursday.
And, while the principal’s remarks have been described as victim-blaming by some commentators, the minister said the situation was desperate.
“Her solution might not have been elegant. It might not have been necessarily what we want to see, but, for me, the bigger problem is the cry out for help for the school,” she said.
Williams added: “Of course, as a ministry we will be writing to her to ensure that she engages the police to investigate the situation of harassment of students as they come to school, to get to the bottom of that to help us to understand what is happening there and what measures we can put in place.”
The minister implored parents to encourage their children to obey the school rules and to engage with administrators and seek consensus for reform.
Williams also said that parents should become more involved in their children’s school community.
“We believe children need consistent messages and they need all the adults in their lives to have high standards and expectations for ethical behaviour.
“Character education can happen and should happen as a long-term communitywide and community-based effort involving schools, parents, social services agencies, law enforcement, churches, businesses, 4-H, and other youth organisations,” said Williams.