Who’s Responsible for Mess at Bishop Martin High School?
Suzannie Cajun
Four teachers, namely: Avid Briceño, Manuel Tzul, Emil Quetzal and Carmen Trejo were issued with letters from the Board asking them to leave the school compound immediately on Wednesday. According to board member, Suzannie Cajun, the ministry has indicated that the teachers were illegally hired because due process was not followed. To avoid sanctions, the board had no other option, but to ask the teachers to go while a solution is sought. But who is responsible for the mess? It is known that the board was reconstituted back in September of 2018; Cajun says they became aware of the plight of the teachers months after, in November.
Suzannie Cajun, Board Member, Bishop Martin High School
“The new laws now require that schools should request new teachers. Whenever we need to hire news teachers, a request needs to be sent to the ministry. The ministry needs to approve that request. Then the letter of approval is sent to the school and the school will then have to send out advertisements for that post and then a selection committee from within the board, including the principal, will sit in on interviews. During those interviews, the panel has to score these persons who are sitting in on the interviews. The selection committee gets together again, drafts up a report and provides the ministry—the TSE I should say—with the documents as to why they chose that particular person and the score sheets from all persons interviewed need to be sent and they need to justify why they are recommending that Miss Jane or Mister Doe is being hired.”
Duane Moody
“That did not happen?”
Suzannie Cajun
“That did not happen. The rules have changed since 2010 and the principal along with the then board should know the rules. For some reason or the other, they were not followed; they did not follow procedures and the new board we are working hard to rectify what has happened. And we are putting policies in place where this will not occur again.”
There were nine teachers originally in the same situation; three have gone through the proper process and their status regularized. Two other teachers sought employment elsewhere.
