Special ed teachers call for resignation of principal
Published:Tuesday | June 13, 2023 | 1:03 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
SPECIAL EDUCATION teachers at the Randolph Lopez School of Hope are demanding the resignation of the school’s principal due to what they have called an outright disregard for their and the children’s safety, among other issues that have not been addressed.
Yesterday, a small group of female teachers staging a sit-in gathered along the school’s main corridor while clad in black.
Anyone entering the facility was immediately drawn to their signs, which were mounted along the walkway and decorated the institution’s entrance.
Speaking with The Gleaner under condition of anonymity, the teachers and teachers’ aides stated that the time has come for new management at the institution as the current principal, Jennifer Spence-Silvera, was incapable.
The sit-in was organised as a result of the principal’s alleged poor handling of an incident last Friday that involved a male teachers’ assistant.
They stated that despite countless reports being made against the male teacher for harassment of the female teachers through unwanted communication, sexual advances or comments made towards them, unwanted touch and in a recent instance, being suspected to have followed a female secretary to her house, the principal has not acted.
But “enough was enough”, according to one member of staff.
In past times, everyone had tried to handle him independently without the assistance of the human resources (HR) department, she explained.
She added that the male instructor had been suspected of being mentally ill and appeared to have a breakdown on the day of the incident as he started acting erratically on the school grounds.
“He seems to be on medication but he’s not taking it,” she said.
ALLEGED Physical ASSAULT
Another teacher expressed that the secretary who he had engaged in an altercation resigned with immediate effect after he threatened her safety. He allegedly attempted to physically assault her.
“Him tell her say him know where she live and who she live with, how him know say she live with her three brothers,” a teacher recalled.
“The secretary resign because of the intimidation and the constant sexual harassment and threats. They (management) pick up for him ... and that he is a friend and needs love and this has been happening two years now and he has been doing it to other females,” a teacher explained.
Another staff member stated that he displayed obsessive behaviours and would cause the female teachers – who account for a large percentage of the complement of teachers, with only two male teachers on the compound – to feel very uncomfortable. It is said that he also antagonises the children at school and that the children had voiced their own complaints about how he treats them.
She further detailed how he took a photo of her and had made a collage with other photos of himself and posted it on social media, wishing her a happy Mother’s Day.
“He keeps texting me, asking me out. I told him I wasn’t interested,” she said. “I reported it to them (management) and they told me that I’m the one who led him on.”
The teachers said that the principal had failed to address the situation and would instead physically move him to the administration office.
“We need someone who will speak for us in crisis and protect us. This could’ve happened to any one of us,” one said.
The teachers stated that a high number of their colleagues were walking off the job and that it could be expected that more will join them in resigning, not because they did not enjoy doing their job but that the conditions under which they worked were overwhelming.
One of the many signs read “stop the covering up!” Another read “no teaching, we fear for our lives”, and another expressed “no action taken, no teaching”, as they informed The Gleaner that they could not guarantee normality at the institution today if they were not brought into a meeting and their voices heard.
“We reach we limit, we reach our breaking point now,” one teacher told The Gleaner in frustration. “We tired!” another chimed in.
When The Gleaner visited the school compound, management and members from the Ministry of Education and Youth were said to be in meetings since 10 a.m. Efforts made up to press time to get in contact with the school’s principal proved to be futile.
Calls made to acting Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education and Youth (MOEY) , Dr Kasan Troupe, went unanswered.
In the meantime, the MOEY’s region one head has intervened in the matter, and should be preparing a report, according to Maureen Dwyer, acting permanent secretary in the Education ministry, who spoke to The Gleaner.
Dwyer, who stated that she would make the report accessible once it was prepared, had not done so up to press time yesterday.
DISRESPECTFUL AND UNLIKEABLE
The teachers further lamented that the principal had not only been disrespectful to teachers, but that she has an unlikeable personality and was uncaring towards the staff. This coupled with her being seemingly inaccessible to both students and teachers, the school environment had become one similar to a military camp, one teacher said, as all fun-day activities such as jeans day, sports day and the celebration of teacher’s day are no longer observed.
They added that since her appointment to the position in 2020, they have only had one face-to-face staff meeting. Subsequent meetings have been held online where the space can be controlled, the teachers said, one expressing that she was put on mute after wanting to raise her concerns in the meeting. She continued that the principal informed her that they would discuss the matter being brought up outside of the meeting, but this was never facilitated.
“We have things of (a) delicate nature happening here that grip out our guts as women that we have tried to [have] addressed and because of confidentiality and professionally, we can’t say nothing ... and we are not seeing any results from the persons in charge,” a teacher said.
“If she don’t go, we ago go,” another said.
Spence-Silvera previously worked as programme manager for education and special needs within Digicel Foundation.
The institution, which has been in operation since 1956, is the largest and oldest institution serving children with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean. The school is operated jointly by the MOEY and the Jamaican Association on Intellectual Disabilities (JAID) and caters to children up to grade 12.