The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THIRTY teachers at Thelma Gibson Primary School did not report to work yesterday because they are “sick of the principal”, according to Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) president Belinda Wilson.

When contacted, Director of Education Marcellus Taylor confirmed that some teachers did not report to work, but added there are others who did show up and classes went on.

“The school is settled and we are satisfied - that students are learning,” he told The Tribune.

He did not know the exact number of teachers who reported to work, but explained that he knew they had enough teachers.

 This comes after angry teachers walked out of classes on Tuesday after an alleged altercation between the school’s principal and a teacher on the previous day.

 CSP Chrislyn Skippings confirmed that a teacher at the school has filed a complaint with police, but said she did not know the specifics of the report.

 Mr Taylor said a conciliation meeting, chaired by the director of labour, will be held over the issue.

 Mrs Wilson gave more details about the conciliation talks.

 “The lawyers along with, I think, the lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office, persons in the Ministry of Education, the Department of Labour - they are in the Labour Department now in a conciliation (meeting),” Mrs Wilson said.

 She also said: “And we expect for the Ministry of Education to follow the procedures and we also expect for the Department of Labour to give a recommendation.

 “What I also can tell you is that two of the teachers who were the witnesses (to the alleged incident) they will be giving their witness reports to the police today.”

 When The Tribune visited the campus in Elizabeth Estates on Tuesday, several teachers were seen standing near the school’s gate, calling for the principal to be removed.

 Yesterday Mr Taylor said he thinks calls for the principal’s removal are “inappropriate.”

 “You don’t make a call for the principal to be recalled just because you have a disagreement,” he said.

 Mrs Wilson claimed that Thelma Gibson Primary School’s principal had to be removed from Carlton Francis Primary School for similar actions in 2019.

 Some time in 2019, teachers protested outside Carlton Francis Primary School several times for the removal of the school’s sitting principal.

 Back in August 2019, it was reported that nearly two dozen teachers at the school had signed a petition calling for the removal of the school’s principal.

 Noting their issues with the principal have been “pent up” over the last two years, the teachers were “not prepared to teach” should the principal remain in her post when school opened next week, Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) Area Vice President for New Providence Schools Vernon Rodgers said in 2019.

 Mrs. Wilson noted that the same trends from Carlton Francis in 2019 now are being noticed at Thelma Gibson.

 She said a petition for the principal’s removal was “in train” prior to the alleged incident this week.

 “Because we’ve had numerous complaints about Mrs Olivia Daxon at Thelma Gibson and the thing is, she was just recently posted there. So we see the same trends from Carlton Francis in 2019 now in 2022. And what I also want to say too, is the matter with Carlton Francis is an active matter in the Supreme Court.”

 “So we’ve already had the first part of the case, and we’re now waiting for a date for the hearing. So we were taken aback when Mrs Daxon was reposted into a school with a matter that is in the Supreme Court still pending.”

 Mr Taylor admitted Ms Daxon did “serve at Carlton Francis”.

 “She did at the beginning of, I think, the 2019 academic year; she requested to be relieved of that post. There was union activity, which again, was proven to be unfair. And the court ruled that we were in our right to redeploy to the teachers, etc. She decided to leave because she just didn’t like the public attention and at the time her father died. So it was just too much for her to deal with at that time,” Mr Taylor said.

 Asked if it was fair to post her to another school, Mr Taylor argued: “She is a principal. She’s been made a principal by (the) Public Service Commission (and) until we have reason not to have her as the principal then she should be serving as a principal. And we (maybe) have teachers who decided to withdraw. They haven’t gone through the grievance procedure — we don’t just move them. We go through the process.”