St James High teacher cries foul over withheld pay

WESTERN BUREAU:

The ongoing saga between St James High School Principal Joseph Williams and teachers accusing him of victimisation has churned out yet another chapter with a veteran teacher now accusing him of withholding her salary without justification.

According to the English teacher, Karett Brown-Lewis, after not receiving her August salary, she went to the school’s bursar to find out why and was shown a document signed by Williams, instructing the bursar to withhold payment.

“I noticed that my salary was not in my account on the 25th of August, so the first week of school, I went to the bursar to find out why is it I wasn’t paid. She gave me a one-page letter that only says authorisation is given to not pay Karett Brown-Lewis. I asked her why, and she said she doesn’t have an answer because she was not given any explanation,” said Brown-Lewis, who says she has 18 years of experience in the classroom.

Brown-Lewis said she subsequently learned that her salary was withheld due to her failure to submit the final grades and scripts for the students’ end-of-term examinations on a timely basis. However, she said she was told that the scripts were not due until September 10, which would be eight days after the start of the new school year.

Failed to submit grades

When The Gleaner contacted Williams, he said Brown-Lewis’ salary was withheld because she failed to submit the grades and scripts for the grade-seven students she taught last school year.

“She did not submit the grades to meet the deadlines. There were two deadlines, and she didn’t meet any, and after the reports were printed, she entered the school management system (SMS) and entered some grades. But based on the system here, when you mark scripts for students, you also have to bring them into the head of department (HOD), and usually I would check to see if they are really marked,” said Williams.

In rubbishing Brown-Lewis’ claim that scripts were due on September 10, Williams said that that could not be since the end-of-year reports were handed out to parents and guardians in July.

“That would be so ridiculous. If the exam was in June and school resumed on the 2nd of September, how could the deadline be September 10? The dates for reports to be collected are in July. She taught grade seven, and that’s the first set of reports that were given out on July 29,” explained Williams.

To compound the issue, Williams told The Gleaner that discrepancies were found in the scripts Brown-Lewis belatedly submitted last weekend.

“We realised that the grades she entered late (in the SMS) do not correspond with the marked scripts that she has now brought in,” said Williams.

In her complaints to The Gleaner, Brown-Lewis admitted she did not return the scripts before September 10 because she was afflicted by a bout of flu. She said other teachers were also late in their submission but were not similarly penalised, hence her claim of discrimination.

“They were informed that I was very ill, and, of course, I crumbled because I had a terrible flu. I still put the grades on so the students could get the grades on their report cards,” said Brown-Lewis.

Brown-Lewis was, up to Tuesday, lamenting that despite the fact that she had returned the scripts to the school, she had still not received her salary.

“I cannot wait for another pay period because by now my bills are backed up … and everybody is calling me,” she said.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com