Re-instated Teachers Say Students’ Academic Wellbeing Comes First

Word of the latest development was immediately passed on to the student body and a leaked email sent to the newly hired replacements was reportedly circulated.  That electronic communication indicated that Punta Gorda police would be called to the school compound were the teachers to return to their jobs this evening.  As for their gripe with the existing salary arrangement, Noralez told News Five that a compromise has been met.

On the Phone: Vanna Noralez, Staff Rep, Claver College Extension

“After that news was shared with the students that we’re going to go back into the classroom there was an email sent by the chairperson to her new staff and that was leaked to us also, and we saw that email, that the police would be called to remove us from the premises.  Now, we are legally still employees of CCE.  The acts undertaken by the chairperson are illegal and we are in the process right now of having the board reinstate the teachers who were illegally terminated and whatever issues with new contracts or new employees, at this point that is something that the chairperson, since she acted solely on her own behalf, she will have to deal with that.”

Isani Cayetano

“In terms of the agreement for salaries to be paid and in terms of, perhaps, some of the concerns that the management had, when will those be addressed or will you guys return to the negotiating table to look at these particular issues?”

On the Phone: Vanna Noralez

“The meeting that was held last week with some members of the board, as well as the staff members, we did come to a conclusion; however, that’s not something concrete at this point, but we did come to an agreement.  So those contracts will be revised as soon as this matter is settled and as soon as they are revised then our teachers will have something more concrete.  At this point our first priority is to get ourselves back into our classrooms, but the contracts have been agreed to be revised and it’s pretty much almost the same contract as it was before, so they’re coming, we found a compromise, the compromise that we could about the payment and that’s what, that was the goal here initially.”