The Tribune

By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Education Jerome Fitzgerald vowed to get to the truth over claims a student was so severely beaten by a headmaster that he eventually had to have surgery.

The 14-year-old said he was beaten so hard by his school’s senior headmaster in November that a simple folicle bump turned into an abscess, requiring surgery and almost three months away from school. On Tuesday, he was suspended from school for 10 days.

The teenager’s mother, Colleen Cartwright, said TA Thompson Junior High School’s administrators have been picking on her son ever since he returned to school following his convalescence.

However, the school’s principal, Dwayne Higgins, told The Tribune that the boy had been skipping school, and that he was forced to suspend the teenager after he used “profanity”.

“When those profanities and other comments are directed toward the principal I think that merits a little more than a talking to,” said Mr Higgins. He refused to talk about the incident in November.

Ms Cartwright denies that her son ever skipped school, but they both admitted that he cursed at his principal Tuesday, saying: “There is only so much he can take.”

She said he had never been reprimanded in his school before November’s incident.

She said the incident occurred because her son, after changing for Physical Education class, told his coach that he could not participate because of a pain in his back that was a result of a softball game the night before.

He was subsequently given a ‘U’ grade for the class for that day.

“Their class is on a daily report so anything that the child does in that class, if they get in problems, they get a ‘U’ and every ‘U’ is a beating, said Ms Cartwright. “So, he got a ‘U’ from the PE coach because he didn’t participate in PE that day.”

While she suggested every ‘U’ grade results in a beating, Mr Higgins said he and the senior headmaster – who was not available for comment – issue a number of disciplinary measures to students who receive a ‘U’.

“There seems to be a very serious lack of communication between the schools and parents,” said the teenager’s grandmother, Susan Ginn.

“I feel they have far too much authority to beat. Before you lay a hand on a child don’t you not think it’s fair to communicate with that child’s parents before you get to the point of licking them?”

Ms. Cartwright accused the school’s senior headmaster of beating her son with a “cow cock” instead of a cane. She said schools are mandated to beat students with canes and nothing else.

Mr Higgins said he uses a cane for corporal punishment and said it is likely that the senior headmaster uses the same.

Ms Cartwright has taken her case to the Ministry of Education and the Attorney General’s office after having approached the school about covering her son’s medical bills and not receiving a favourable response.

When her son’s bump turned into an abscess she was convinced it was a direct result of the beating he sustained, after doctors told her that only a forceful hit could cause the follicle bump to flare up the way it did.

Yesterday, Minister Fitzgerald said he wants to know exactly what happened between the boy and the school.

Mr Fitzgerald said he does not support physical discipline in schools, and vowed to get to the truth of the issue.

Ms Cartwright said she only wants for her son to finish his BJCs and move on to high school.

And, she said that’s all he wants as well.

“He hated the fact that he was out of school,” said Ms Ginn.