‘Mi nuh want dem ya nastiness inna my school’

WESTERN BUREAU:

“SINCE THE incident, she has locked down, and I am not getting much from her. Even when I ask her about the incident, she is not saying anything to me.”

That was the revelation from J. C. [real name withheld on request], the mother of one of two girls formerly enrolled at St James High School, regarding her 15-year-old daughter’s current state of mind after both girls were reportedly expelled on January 16 this year for appearing in a WhatsApp video kissing each other.

The issue was originally highlighted in The Sunday Gleaner’s April 21, 2024, publication when Alicia R., the mother of the other girl, accused St James High’s principal Joseph Williams of being heavy-handed in expelling her 16-year-old daughter from the school over what she described as a youthful lapse in judgement. Alicia’s daughter has since been placed at a private institution.

Languishing at home

Speaking to The Gleaner on Wednesday, J. C. declared that her daughter, likewise, was given no opportunity to even finish the school term, and that the child – who had previously transferred to St James High after experiencing problems at another school – has been languishing at home since her banishment, having not been placed at any other institution.

“I was told that I was to come to the school, and while I was there, we met with the principal [Williams], both parents and children. We had a discussion, and the principal said he is not keeping them because he has to protect his child that is there, and we have to find schools to put them. I said, ‘Sir, what am I going to do?’ and he said my child is a ‘deportee’ from one school to another, and he doesn’t want her there,” said J.C., recounting the conversation she reportedly had with Williams.

“I said to him, ‘Sir, where am I going to find a school in the middle of the school year? I am a single parent. I am the only parent for the child’. He said, ‘Mi nuh want hear nothing. You a nuh the only single parent deh ya. A whole heap of thousands of single parents pass through here. Mi nuh want dem ya nastiness inna my school. Mi have my daughter here who mi haffi protect, and mi nuh want her involve inna dem ya nastiness ya,’” J. C. added, sadly. “He did not give them a chance, so I took my child and went home and let her stay home. She has been home from January 16.”

The Gleaner also spoke with J. C.’s sister-in-law, D.S., [real name withheld], who blasted the Ministry of Education (MOE) for what she described as a sluggish response to correspondences she had previously sent to advocate for her niece, screenshots of which she provided as evidence.

“I was talking to Mr Williams, and he stated that the two girls were in a two-second video kissing on the WhatsApp status. I asked what he planned to do, and he said, ‘Well, I cannot accept her back into the school’. I said to him, ‘You think what they did is a reason to expel them?’ and he said ‘yes, because it is nastiness’,” said D. S.

“On January 16, I sent an email to the MOE stating what the principal told me. When I sent the email to the MOE, no one reached out to me, nobody called me back, nothing. It was this past Monday [April 22] that I got a call from the MOE, and the person said she was reading The Gleaner’s article on Sunday, and she said this looks very familiar … it was then that they pulled up my email and found out that it was about the same thing,” D. S. added indignantly.

Attempts to contact Williams for a comment were unsuccessful as he was said to be out of office.

The Education Regulations of 1980 outline the circumstances under which a school may handle the suspension or expulsion of a student, including for disciplinary reasons.

According to Section 28.1, a student may be transferred from one public school to another where space is available; where there has been consultation between the principals; and where the minister of education has given approval in writing, where necessary.

Section 29.3 states that where a student has breached school rules and the misconduct continues after normal disciplinary actions and counselling, the matter may be referred by the principal to the students’ council for study and recommendation.

Section 30.7 stipulates that except in special cases, a student shall only be suspended or excluded after other efforts have been made to secure an improvement in the student’s conduct.

Additionally, Section 85 states that a school board shall appoint a personnel committee to investigate allegations of breaches of discipline committed by or against members of staff or students to include the chairman or vice-chairman of the board. At the end of the hearing by the committee, a report is to be submitted to the board for action.

CHAIRMAN NOT PREPARED TO COMMENT

When contacted regarding the latest developments in the saga, St James High School’s board chairman Christopher McCurdy said he was not prepared to comment ahead of a planned meeting to be held at the school today.

“There is a board meeting scheduled for tomorrow [Thursday]. There’s really nothing much to say ahead of that, and I am assuming that after that meeting, we will decide whether there is anything to report. That’s really where we are right now,” said McCurdy.

Regarding an additional report that a third student was expelled from St James High without due process in an unrelated incident on March 15 this year, McCurdy would only say that such a report had not been brought before the school board.

JFJ CONDEMNATION

In the meantime, Jamaicans for Justice [JFJ] director Mickel Jackson condemned both the expulsion of the two students and the manner in which the situation was reportedly handled by the school authorities and the MOE.

“If what is reported in the media is true, JFJ finds no merit in the grounds for the disciplinary action to begin with. What it raised was the need for ongoing age-appropriate comprehensive sexual education for students without shame and moral judgement. Secondly, the decision to bar the students from school, effectively expelling them, breached their right to education as it was made without adhering to fundamental principles of due process outlined in the Constitution of Jamaica, as well as in the Education Act and its Regulations,” Jackson declared.

“We strongly denounce the handling of this entire situation by both the school administration and the MOE in light of the parents’ account that they pursued their intervention to no avail. Apparently, an attempt for some resolution only came after the matter was raised in the media,” Jackson added.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com