Latest update April 1st, 2026 12:40 AM
Jun 03, 2016 Letters
You have my gratitude for allowing me a space in your newspaper to let my views be heard. I hope to be short
so I will quickly get to the point. I am no stranger to the conflicts and issues that have been brought forward by both parents and past teachers of the well known private school in Georgetown, Mae’s Schools. In fact, I am a parent of a child who attends the secondary division of the said institution; more so, my child has been attending school there since his primary years.
I have never once seen a bad face from a teacher, in neither secondary nor primary division, that is until about a few weeks back when a member of staff, the name of whom escapes me but identified herself as a part of the directorate at Mae’s. I was later led to believe that she was not a member of the teaching staff but had a supervisory position. I was simply inquiring about my child’s wellbeing with another teacher after the normal school hours of course. Never was I met with such hostility from someone at the institution, she quickly demanded that the teacher had other engagements that she had to attend to and needed to be off immediately.
Dumbfounded, I quickly responded that I was just asking a question and the teacher was just about to give me an answer, and if it was possible to allow her another minute or two. As swiftly as the words left my mouth, just as swiftly, the supervisor replied with a sharp, “no.” This left me even more flabbergasted as she went on to tell me that it was not the teacher’s place to answer any questions I had unless it was in a formal setting. At this point I felt very offended so I apologized and left; my child was waiting in the car by a stroke of luck because it would have defeated me to have him see me spoken to in such a manner. Recounting the events to my family, I was made to understand that I am not the only one who has been spoken to in such a manner by this supervisor; as a matter of fact, it would seem that she has been found speaking to other parents this way
Adding to this, I was appalled at the way she spoke to the teacher. I should add as an update that the teacher has since resigned. I would too, had I been spoken to like that in front of others. Furthermore, I was informed that it was not unusual for her to speak to teachers like that and even worse, demanding respect in her own disrespectful behaviour as well as commanding teachers to do what is not in their capacity to do.
To top it all off, she does this in the presence of other teachers and STUDENTS. My point is that if students can see her raising her voice at teachers and disrespecting them, what respect will they have for the teachers? No wonder teachers leave the school so rapidly. Don’t get me wrong; the rest of the directorate, especially the director herself, has been wonderful in dealing with students and parents but as the saying goes “one bad apple spoils the entire barrel.” I for one do not stand for disrespect, nor do I condone the disrespect of those who work hard and if the administration at Mae’s knows what’s best for the school strict action would be taken against this “flaw.”
Disrespected parent
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