Time for a classroom teacher to lead the JTA – Kennedy

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) presidential hopeful, Anthony Kennedy, a senior teacher at Kings Primary and Infant School in Westmoreland, says electing principals for the association’s top job has been a failing experiment.

According to Kennedy, the lone classroom teacher among the five contenders for next month’s JTA president-elect contest, the association has not benefited from having principals at the helm over the years.

“If you put a principal in the position, a principal is going to ensure that a principal benefit is put first; but I believe that if you put a teacher in the role, a teacher will ensure that all teachers benefit at the end of the day,” he said.

Kennedy will face off against La Sonja Harrison, principal of St Faith Primary School in St Catherine; Leighton Johnson, principal at Muschett High School in Trelawny; Eaton McNamee, principal of Broadleaf Primary in Manchester, and Timroy Shaw, principal of Highgate Primary and Junior High in St Mary.

The five will be seeking to win the majority support from the approximately 23,000 delegates, who will be asked to decide the winner.

In speaking to the last wage agreement between the Government and the JTA, the outspoken Kennedy, whose campaign slogan is ‘Promoting the U in unity’, said the teachers came away at a disadvantage.

“Teachers are worse off from it … it has placed us in a four-year wage freeze,” said Kennedy. “It’s just that those at the top usually don’t remember those of us at the bottom, and at this time, I believe that we need somebody who is from among the teachers, who is from the teaching population to represent teachers.

“Over the years, as an association, we have been accepting deals that do not put teachers first, it puts students first. Yes, students are important, but we need somebody to stand up for teachers and to fight for the basic rights and needs that have been taken away,” added Kennedy.

He blasted the current leadership of the JTA for what he described as their silence to the recent 2.5 per cent increase offer to their wages over the next four years by the Government.

“The association leaders are yet to come out and say this is unacceptable. This is what we believe, and this is what we stand for. It is as if they have agreed before even coming to those of us who it serve,” he said.

Kennedy, who bemoaned the poor state of the classrooms in which teachers and the students are forced to work and learn in, said if elected, he will take an open-door approach to his leadership as he plans to change the status quo through effective leadership.

“Going forward, teachers need to elect individuals who will represent them and get their opinions when making decisions,” added Kennedy.