Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Parents protest appointment of new Head Teacher
Parents of students attending President’s College staged another protest yesterday, this time to show their disapproval for the appointment of a new Head Teacher for the institution.
The new Head Teacher, Carolyn Canterbury, took up the appointment on October 1, replacing Yonette Chichester, who had been acting in the position for two years.
The parents believe that the move to appoint a new head for the school is a case of discrimination against the former acting head who they said had been doing a marvelous job.
However, this newspaper was reliably informed that the vacancy for the position was advertised and the newly appointed Head Teacher was the only applicant who had met the criteria for the job.
Protesting parents outside the President’s College yesterday.
But according to the parents, from all indications teachers at the school had thrown their support behind the former Acting Head ever since they heard that she was to be replaced.
“For the past four weeks the children haven’t done any work,” said Aretha Stephens, the mother of a first form student.
She added that the older students are also not supportive of the move to replace Chichester and have blamed the politics played by the Parent-Teacher Association body and some elements of the Board of Directors for the poor state of affairs at the institution.
“There is a case of total breakdown at the school. The Fifth formers have to attend classes in their dormitories,” Stephens told this newspaper.
Esther Cummings, the mother of a sixth form student, described the school’s infrastructure as “horrible”.
She said that the classrooms do not have adequate furniture while the beds in the dorms are falling apart.
According to Cummings, who hails from Georgetown, her child had applied for live-in status at the school but this was denied because of a lack of facilities.
“The Ministry, for some strange reason, is not looking into this situation,” she said.
Another parent, Wilfred Collins, from West Coast Berbice, echoed similar sentiments about the lack of work being done by the students, especially those in the first year.
He too believes that the former Acting Head Teacher should have been appointed Head Teacher.
“It is not that we have a problem with the new Head Teacher but we feel that Miss Chichester should have been appointed,” Collins said.
Despite the protest and a late afternoon meeting with Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, there is no indication that the Ministry will rescind the recent appointment and it is likely to be business as usual.
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