The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter 

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

A DISGRUNTLED parent has called for the removal of all the teachers at CH Reeves Junior High School participating in ongoing protests.

The parent, who preferred not to be named, said last year the teachers at CH Reeves had a few sit outs and this year teachers are still refusing to teach the kids. 

“The parents bring their kids to school every day, find lunch money for them, clean their uniform and bring them to school for the teachers to walk out the classrooms. If the classroom isn’t good enough for the teachers, then it shouldn’t be good enough for the students,” the parent said.

“If the teachers were really (interested) in doing their jobs they would have taken the kids outside under the tree and teach those kids. When exam time comes around, the kids are going to fail. The teachers are really interfering with their futures dramatically. If the kids aren’t taught, they’re not going to learn anything in school.”

He added: “Anyone who are with these teachers not doing their job should be ashamed of themselves. You have a teachers union and if the president of that union is backing the teachers for not doing their job then they should not be in those positions.”

The angry parent suggested the government replace those teachers with educators willing to do their jobs efficiently. 

He said: “The government should take all of those teachers and send them to different islands and put new teachers there who are going to teach the kids. Those kids that have to sit BJC and BGCSE exams are going to fail because no one is teaching the kids. No one seems to be concerned. Parents are sick and tired of sending their kids to school every day and they aren’t learning. 

“It’s appalling, the parents are becoming very irate and it’s frustrating. This is the third month going into the new school year and we still having this problem. I’m ready to move my kids but it’s the middle of the school year, where am I going to put them? If I could have afforded it God knows I would have put my kids in private school.”

He added: “A lot of parents are feeling the same. It’s not good and they’re not just interfering with these kids’ education. They’re interfering with their future. Quite frankly I’m ready to get the parents together and march in front of that school.”

Last week, the Bahamas Union of Teachers president, Belinda Wilson, said the union will be taking legal action against the Ministry of Education to resolve ongoing issues at Carlton Francis Primary School and CH Reeves Junior High School.

Speaking to reporters at CH Reeves Junior High on Friday, Mrs Wilson noted that the union’s decision to take matters to court is a response to the outstanding concerns highlighted by teachers at the respective schools.

“For eight weeks now, teachers (at Carlton Francis Primary) have been reporting to work and locked out of the gate with police presence, security officers and so they have not been allowed on their jobs and their salaries have been cut,” she said.

“And for CH Reeves, we’re dealing with health and safety of the teachers and the students and their salaries have been cut… (So) on Monday morning, we will go to the Supreme Court and we expect for the justice system to work for us.” 

Last month, Minister of Education Jeff Lloyd told reporters his ministry is seeking to resolve whatever outstanding issues the teachers have.

Mr Lloyd said if the industrial agreement in question is no longer serving its purpose, all parties need to sit down and come to a new agreement.

“This is deeply troubling; it is troubling because, one, we have an agreement. That agreement should be respected, if that agreement and its terms no longer serve the purpose for which it was originally intended and it does not serve those purposes today, they’re adults, we are reasonable, intelligent and smart people,” he said.