~ Parents call on Jacobs to act now ~
DUTCH QUARTER--Angry parents vented their frustration on Tuesday over the decision of the management of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School to send home pupils as a result of seven teachers being absent.
The parents who contacted The Daily Herald on Tuesday to said it was "high time" something was done about teacher absenteeism at the school and called on Education Minister Silveria Jacobs to act. They pointed out that this is the same school where the minister served as School Manager (Principal) before accepting her appointment as Minister of Education. Her replacement holds the title of Adjunct School Manager.
The Daily Herald learned that school management had dispatched a letter to Public Education Services head Glenderlin Davis-Holiday immediately, informing her of the situation. The school management said it had been left with no choice but to ask the parents of pupils in cycle two, year one to collect their children from school and return home for the day.
The remaining pupils were taken up in other classes. School management stressed to Davis-Holiday that the situation at the school was taking a toll on the staff, with the pupils ultimately suffering.
"People wonder why the students in public education are not living up to their potential. These teachers are never in school, and it's not just at Martin Luther King. It's all public schools," one parent said. "This is ridiculous. These things cannot happen in the private schools. These teachers, whenever they don't get what they believe is their right, they leave the classroom and march in the streets. Well, what about the right of my child to an education? Is this not important?"
Former minister of education Rhoda Arrindell had initiated a comprehensive process with the goal of reducing teacher absenteeism by determining whether teachers really are sick when they say they are, or are abusing the sick-leave policy. The teachers union was not comfortable with the idea at the time and advised government to stick to the application of the sick-leave policy, as some teachers could be pregnant, etc.
Minister Jacobs, who plans to hold a general conference with teachers, acknowledged recently that teacher absenteeism was an issue, but stressed that the source of the problem must be identified before measures were taken. "If you're sick, you're sick," Jacobs said, adding that some obvious reasons for high teacher absenteeism included that many were burdened by the new system and felt unable to cope with a high level of stress.
The parents brushed aside that claim.
"If you're sick, you're sick? So many teachers sick at one time in one school? Can the minister look me in my eyes and tell me when she was in charge there she had the same opinion that if you're sick, you're sick? We're not foolish or blind. Some teachers think parents don't see them doing side jobs when they are supposed to be working. One or two might be sick, yes, but what we have in the public schools today is a racket – a racket by teachers at the expense of our children – and it must stop," said one frustrated parent.
The Adjunct School Manager at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School was contacted for comment, but up to press time had not provided any.
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