Parents disappointed with primary school graduation - question how fee was spent

Parents disappointed with primary school graduation – question how fee was spent

Jul 13, 2016 News

Some parents of recently graduated pupils of the Rama Krishna Primary School are up in arms over what they believe are fraudulent activities that occurred at the school.
The parents are of the belief that the Head Mistress, Melanie Cornette, fleeced them out of thousands of dollars that was reportedly intended for a graduation ceremony.
But the Head Mistress is insisting that this is not the case.
However, the parents, who visited this publication on Tuesday, revealed that they were asked to pay $3,000 in order for their children, who participated in the recent National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), to be a part of the graduation ceremony.
A total of 45 pupils wrote the 2016 NGSA, and according to teachers attached to the school, this year the school, situated at Middleton Street, Georgetown, performed well. At least seven pupils were awarded Sixth Form schools. This publication was told that two pupils attained scores to attend The Bishops’ High School, three gained scores for Saint Stanislaus College and one scored marks for St. Rose’s High School.
It was expected that the pupils would have been celebrated at the graduation ceremony complete with trophies, certificates and photography. The fee requested by the Head Mistress, the parents said, was intended to fund things needed for the ceremony including the rental of chairs. However, since it was recognised that the proposal offered by the Head Mistress, they alleged, did not exceed $2,000, questions were asked about the need for the additional $1,000.
The parents who visited this publication said that the Head Mistress, who collected the monies herself and even told parents that they could contribute additional funds, informed that any excess money would be used to buy decorations and rent chairs for the graduation day.
The graduation was held on July 6. But according to the parents, not only were there no trophies for the pupils, but there were no decorations fitting for a graduation ceremony.
According to one of the parents, who brought photographs to prove her point, the only visible decoration was a backdrop, which was the property of a photographer. There were curtains too, but the parents claimed that they soon learned from teachers of the school that the curtains had been long procured by the school.
The parents said, too, that the seating provided were the chairs used by Grade One and Two pupils.
“We are wondering what really our money went towards. I know I gave the head mistress $5,000 and I don’t see what she really did with the money,” a parent said.
This publication was informed that days ahead of the graduation ceremony, five trophies that were donated were presented to four pupils. They claimed that one pupil was given two trophies, since according to the Head Mistress the child was always helpful.
Reports are that the pupil would help to clean the Head Mistress’s office since the cleaner reportedly refused to do so.
“A lot of people and that Head Mistress don’t get along, but we thought that she would have at least tried to do sometime nice for the children, because they did do well,” said one parent who claimed that she saw one of the pupils crying as she was not rewarded for her performance.
When the claims of the parents were brought to the attention of the Head Mistress yesterday, she insisted that the planning of the ceremony was certainly not a one-person show. She disclosed that she didn’t even have access to the finances for the graduation ceremony.
“It is sad that they (parents) decided to go to the media instead of coming to me…but let them know they can come to me and get a breakdown of how everything was spent,” said the Head Mistress.
She admitted that some of the things proposed were not realised since some of the money had to be diverted to rent a public address system. According to the Head Mistress, a parent had offered to donate the use of the system but subsequently demanded to be paid.

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Parents disappointed with primary school graduation – question how fee was spent

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