The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

PARENTS were travelling in droves this morning to collect their children from Uriah McPhee Primary School as teacher protests interrupted the school day.

Angry parents from the school board had also come to express their concerns to the principal and the district superintendent over conditions they say are unsuitable for work.

Although The Tribune was told the media could only access the campus after 3pm, parents could be seen leaving the school with their children.

One parent said she was called from her home to collect her children by a teacher.

Her sons said many of the students were congregated inside the school's auditorium rather than their usual classes.

There, they are being taught by the principal and senior mistress. The young boys said they had not seen their teachers for the day.

According to Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson, the teachers are upset about overcrowded classes, refusing to teach until the Ministry of Education sends additional teachers to the school.

Ms Wilson said the school also has a mould problem.

The protests come two days after about 100 teachers gathered at the Bahamas Union of Teachers' (BUT) headquarters to protest against the Ministry's decision not to remove the principals of Anatol Rodgers High School and Maurice Moore Primary School.

BUT and the government continued conciliation efforts at the Department of Labour this morning after BUT filed six trade disputes last week. Teacher shortages are among the concerns the union was expected to raise.

The first of the meetings lasted hours yesterday, a week after Ms Wilson filed six trade disputes against the government.

Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said all teachers reported to work on time yesterday morning.

He also said just under 200 teachers would see a deduction in pay “if not this pay day then definitely the next one’ for holding a sit-out on Monday.

As for continuing calls to remove the principals of Anatol Rodgers High School and Maurice Moore Primary School, he said: “I spoke to the school board president at both schools. I think at the end of the day the fact that you only had 10% of teachers who sat out at both of those institutions really showed the information I had received and information I used to base the decision that was made by myself and the Ministry followed through.

“It’s not that we don’t understand that there were numerous issues raised by teachers and the union but at the end of the day they all agreed from my understanding that those are issues that mature, reasonable, rational adults can sit down and speak about.

“We spoke directly with the principals in this regard and in Grand Bahama we had a sit down with the principals and the teachers and they were allowed to voice their concerns and those concerns were well taken.”

“I don’t feel the President (of the teachers union) went about it the right way and not only did she underestimate the public outrage but also the lack of support she may have had within her membership.”

Mr Fitzgerald also knocked Ms Wilson’s claim that the government cannot deduct from the salaries of teachers who engaged in Monday’s sit-out because a lot of money is already owed to teachers.

He said: “With regard to monies owed to teachers, she’s talking about two separate incidents completely. First of which is over the last ten years reassessments haven’t been done, promotions haven’t been taken into account.

“Earlier in my term I set up a department within the Ministry of Education whose sole purpose in the past year almost was to reconcile and get information from teachers who fell into this category.

“Before the budget year ended in June we paid out about a million dollars of this amount. I understand there’s about three to four million still owing now. We’ve reconciled that.

“We’ve spoken with the Ministry of Finance and all of this was relayed to the President. I have kept her fully involved in the process so that cannot be a matter of contention.

“The Ministry of Finance indicated that the information that we sent they will take into account and try and settle those amounts this year. That’s been communicated with her. That’s nothing we need to have a row about.

“As Minister I have done more to make sure we bring that to a head. As I said, my mother was a public school teacher so I don’t want public school teachers to be disadvantaged in anyway, particularly when it comes to money owing to them.

“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness,” he said.