St. Peters:--- Teachers of the St. Maarten Vocational School has given the Department of Education a deadline which ends at 2pm on Wednesday. The deadline is for a meeting with department head to discuss security measures. The Windward Islands Teachers Union has joined their teachers fight said Claire Elshot.
Elshot said the teachers of that school have been having constant problems with students who are in possession of weapons and they have addressed their concerns to the department. One of the requested the teachers are making is to have full time security at the school by January 2009 since dealing with school fights in the past has left one of the teachers injured. Elshot needs to have the necessary space to function as educators and not security officers.
Elshot said the department did not honor the teachers request so they have decided to further continue with their actions. The union leader said that on Tuesday the teachers made the request for a meeting but that request was also not honored which gave the teachers no choice but to set a deadline for this meeting. Elshot said late last year the police visited the school in question and found a number of weapons and items that were confiscated by teachers of the school. She said when this happened the department head Ms. Oldine Bryson Pantophlet wrote a letter to the newspaper to downplay the matter. However, she said the school is not a place for weapons and it seems as if parents and the school cannot control what is taken on the school premises. She said if no one can control this situation the teachers definitely would need to have some sort of security.
