EYES ON STEER TOWN

Sharn Mongal, principal of Steer Town Academy in St Ann, is expected to go on leave this month amid a probe by the Overseas Examinations Commission (OEC) into alleged breaches in last year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) May-June sittings.

Four teachers are also reportedly expected to be sent on similar leave.

According to a source, the group was invited by the school board to go on special leave following a meeting last month. They were given five days to indicate whether they would accept the invitation.

This was after the OEC produced a preliminary report, saying there was enough evidence to conduct an investigation.

The leave was to take effect on January 1, however, with recent resignation of the board chairman, Fabian Brown, that decision on whether to force the teachers to go on leave hangs in the balance.

Brown confirmed last week that the board was awaiting Mongal’s decision and also indicated that the board was to finalise its decision with respect to the others.

However, yesterday when he was contacted, he informed The Gleaner that he had resigned from the post and that Mongal had not responded within the stipulated time.

He, however, dismissed reports that he was forced to resign because of threats from parents at the school over the board decision to ask Mongal to go on leave.

Brown, in the meantime, said that the new board would need to meet and rubber-stamp the decision to send Mongal on leave.

Efforts by The Gleaner to contact the acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr Maureen Dwyer, for an update on the appointment of a new chairman and board proved futile.

The school was thrust into the spotlight last year following reports that some students were given copies of the exam papers a day before the sitting and that teachers were provided with the exam questions to prep students in select subjects.

The alleged breach reportedly involved day-school and evening-school students, some of whom had not been recommended to sit the exams.

It is also alleged that a non-academic staffer invigilated one of the exams.

Sources at the school accused a senior staffer of orchestrating the alleged violation.

According to one source, the breaches were committed in geography, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, social studies, and food and nutrition.

They also claimed that a number of the students who sat the exams obtained distinction passes with straight-A profiles but that the school did not have a record of prolific straight-A scores.

Principal Mongal had, however, dismissed the reports as false, alleging that it was part of a “concerted plot” by persons who were not satisfied with his leadership and wanted to cause disorder at the school.

“But as far as I am concerned, my integrity stands. We have nothing to hide. We have done nothing wrong,” he stated.

According to him, the school had made a deliberate thrust, including workshops and weekend online classes, to improve student scores.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com