Job approval letter arrives days after teacher’s murder
Published:Sunday | June 16, 2019 | 12:27 AMAndré Williams - Staff Reporter
Innswood High School teacher, 33-year-old Salomie Plummer, died not knowing she had been granted approval by the Ministry of Education to finally become a permanent teacher at the institution where she had been working for almost a year.
Plummer, a science teacher, and her 35-year-old sister, Simona Plummer, recruitment manager at Choice Business Solutions, were shot and killed on Sunday, June 9 after gunmen gained entry to their home on Keats Avenue in Duhaney Park, western St Andrew.
On Friday, Sydney Roman, board chairman at Innswood, told The Sunday Gleaner that he received the confirmation letter from the Ministry of Education on Thursday, four days after the terrifying incident which has left the school community heartbroken.
“Yesterday (Thursday) I got a letter from the ministry stating that she should be appointed a permanent teacher,” the chairman said.
“The day we got the news (of her death), we contacted the ministry and they sent a team from the counselling department to speak to the staff and students. School was dismissed half day because everybody was sad,” Roman told our news team.
“Even today (Friday), a teacher called. I called the principal for an update; we don’t know what happened. It’s just what we hear in the media.”
The board chairman said he is personally grieving because he headed the interview process that led to Plummer’s hiring at the institution.
“I was the person who interviewed her last year. At the time of the interview, I was head of the personnel committee. I received her application and called and interviewed her and gave her the job,” Roman told The Sunday Gleaner.
RESERVED TEACHER
Checks by this newspaper paint a narrative of Salomie Plummer as a generally reserved teacher who was loved by her students and peers.
“She is a quiet lady who hardly talked. When you go there, she hardly even comes out on the campus,” said Roman.
Reports are that Salomie Plummer’s eight-year-old daughter, who was at home at the time of the brutal attack, managed to escape unharmed.
When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the St Andrew South Police Division for an update, our news team was redirected to the Major Investigation Division (MID).
However, Deputy Superintendent Paul Thomas of MID declined requests for further details on the double killing.
Reports are that the women were at home when loud explosions were heard and men were seen running from a house.
Residents reported that two men purporting to work with a utility company had been granted access to the rented house the women shared.
A search of the premises revealed that both women had been shot dead in a bedroom.
Investigators also theorise that a pillow was used to muffle the gunfire.
Duhaney Park residents said they knew little about the women, as they had recently moved into the community.
Staff at Choice Business Solutions, where Simona Plummer worked, have also expressed sadness at the shock death of the sisters.