Cayo school without food for students
We reported on Monday night about turmoil at the Western Christian Academy and Ontario Christian School in the Cayo District. Tonight the community in Ontario Village is still in uproar as the problems at Western Christian Academy have not been resolved. The principal, Dana Wutke, was dismissed last Friday and now the funds that were once funneled through Belize Faith Mission have dried up. Students of the private school were sent home early today because the cafeteria could not provide lunch. Marlon Robinson, a teacher who was asked to be the acting principal, has declined taking the position and says the teachers are united against Wutke’s dismissal.
Marlon Robinson, Teacher, Western Christian Academy
“When they dismissed Pastor Ernest Tate, being the director for over thirty years, working with their peers, eventually that sent shockwaves across Belize and negatively charged the atmosphere where animosity grew against the management. Now it has come to the point that last week Friday, our principal Dana Wutke was dismissed and we believe that it has been done unfairly. What happened today, we had to dismiss children early. An incident occurred that had occurred earlier in last month. The children come from struggling homes, hard working homes and people that are still struggling to find the means to send the kids to school. There’s a staple lunch that costs only two dollars and that was not provided today because we can claim mismanagement, but for whatever reason the children were not able to have a decent meal to continue for the rest of the day. This entire week is exam week for the fourth formers, the graduating class. Next week, we are scheduled to have exams for preparatory class all the way up to third form. We are finding ourselves in a serious situation where we don’t even have ink cartridges to run off the exams. I have brought it up to management and Ms. Yudora said that she will try her best to get them but again…”
Jose Sanchez
“As a teacher of the school, are you saying that—would you like the public to help?”
Marlon Robinson
“Yes, if the public can help, sure. Primarily, what we want to see is Ms. Dana Wutke reinstated as principal. They have emphatically said that they don’t want her there. We are saying that the best judgement is for her to be there to complete the school year.”
While Western Christian Academy is uncertain of its immediate future, the teachers of Ontario Christian Academy which is a grant-aided institution have finally received their salaries today.
