St. Peters: --- President of the Windward Island teachers union (WITU) Claire Elshot is not pleased with management of the St. Maarten Vocational School whom she said denied her members valuable information and barred her from entering the school during school hours yesterday.
Elshot said she was called by her members urgently yesterday morning and she agreed to meet with the teachers at the school during their break-time. She said when she arrived at the school she was basically pushed around by the school management who felt that she does not have right to meet with her members during school hours. Elshot said even though the Principal of that school knew he was not going to allow the meeting to take place he was playing games with her before he finally told her he would not allow her to meet with her members. She said she asked the Principal to at least allow her to inform the teachers but instead he decided to walk ahead and told them they were to report to their classroom since there would be no meeting. Elshot said she still managed to speak to a few of the teachers who did not have class at the time and only then she realized that the school management was withholding valuable information from the teachers.
Elshot further explained at that point she decided to call the directress of public education Mrs. Oldsdine Bryson Pantophlet who invited her to a meeting at her office. The Union head said during that meeting Bryson- Pantophlet showed her a letter in which she responded to the teacher's request, telling them that she was busy meeting with a consulting agency where she is seeking to have a security coordinator for the school.
Elshot said her members did not have any knowledge about the letter and she was able to meet with the teachers after 2pm yesterday where she updated them.
Teachers Taking Stand.
The teachers of the school have since decided to send a stronger letter to Bryson-Pantophlet since they need a security at the school. She said the teachers would be making a resolution which will be signed by all the teachers before sending it off to Bryson- Pantophlet. She said the reason the teachers are holding out is because other schools managed to obtain security and their school which is the ‘dumping ground" for bad apples cannot get a security. In the meantime, Elshot said she strongly condemned the attitude of the Principal and she intends to follow up the matter with the head of public education.
