Betty's Estate: --- Teachers of the St. Maarten Academy (PSVE) were busy preparing their placards and posters to take to the streets on Wednesday protesting the termination of 13 of their colleagues. SMN News also learnt that the librarian of the Academic Section of the St. Maarten Academy has also been terminated and teachers from that section is also scheduled to participate in the planned action which is spearheaded by the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU).
Speaking to SMN News the teachers who received their termination letters on Tuesday morning said they were all shocked when they received the letters telling them the school board has terminated their contract as of July 31. Most of the teachers who were in the teachers lounge and a classroom were emotionally distraught at the news.
Copies of the letter which was provided to SMN News states that their employment with FAVE will be terminated at the end of the 2009-2010 school year which ends on July 31.
Reasons given to the teachers are that the Federal Department of Education has identified them as unqualified for Secondary Education since 2003. The letter further states that the teachers were allowed to execute their task as unqualified teachers with the agreement that they would acquire proper qualification within a specific period of time. "Eight years have elapsed and you provided FAVE with no additional degree, even though your qualification indicates that you are unqualified to teach at any level."
The St. Maarten Academy requested dispensation from the Federal Department of Education and it has been refused and the quality of the school's program is now in jeopardy.
The termination letter further states that the teachers received a warning letter since September 14 2009 and to date the teachers have not responded.
One of the teachers who also received his termination letter but was not at the school on Tuesday is Joel Pinas who taught at the St. Maarten Academy for the past 22 years.
In an invited comment Chairperson of the FAVE Josianne Fleming said that the school board has been pleading with these teachers for years to upgrade their education if they wanted to continue teaching. Fleming further explained that Pinas a Dutch teacher only has an elementary school diploma and she on several occasions spoke to the teacher in question and he kept promising that he would submit his other certificates but to date has not done so. Asked how the teachers were recruited in the first place and allowed to teach Secondary Education Fleming said those teachers were hired by the former and late executive director of the St. Maarten Academy Vance James Jr. Fleming said the late James had full responsibility for the hiring of teachers whom she said hired the teachers at different levels. She said the school has been requesting the dispensation while they requested the teachers to upgrade their level of education. Fleming said even though they have been behind their teachers for some years now none of them tried to comply with the demands of the Federal Department of Education who refused to issue their dispensation. She said because of the lack of qualified teachers at the school it is affecting their budgeting an quality of education.
Another problem the teachers said they are facing is the Federal Department of Education is refusing to accept any certificate for courses they did at the University of Saint Martin. Teacher Richard Tjin Sjoe said he did a few courses at his own expense at the USM and he sent his certificates to Curacao only to learn that USM certificates are not accepted in Curacao or anywhere else because the school is not accredited.
However, Fleming said in the past the Ministry of Education used to accept USM certificates. "USM certificates were recognized by the Central Government when Mr. Lamp was there." Fleming said.
Furthermore, USM certificates she said is accepted on St. Maarten and it should be recognized in Curacao also because there is an agreement between UNA and USM on the teacher education program. Fleming said many of the teachers who were terminated do not have the minimum which is a bachelor's degree which would entitle them to do the course to obtain their diploma in Education.(DIP.ED) which she said would allow them to teach in secondary schools.
The teachers said a representative from DERPI took someone to the school whose intention was to provide certain courses to the teachers and they were informed by the instructor who came from Curacao that USM is not accredited and there is only one institute in the Netherlands Antilles that could provide the courses. That school they said is located in Curacao.
In reaction to that Fleming said the instructor did take back the certification of each teacher to access them and to see if they could sign up for the course but the school board was informed that the teachers who wanted to participate in the course is not even qualified to take the course.
Asked how the school board plans to deal with the current situation since the students of the PSVE are scheduled to take their end of term examination. Fleming said if these persons are educators then they would not mix matters. Asked how they intend to replace the teachers she said they already began advertising for the new school year.
The teachers said outside of their termination they are still waiting on their retroactive pay, salary scales adjustment and Christmas bonus. They said they recently received an increase in their salaries but the school board incorporated it with their salaries causing them to pay more taxes. A meeting was held with President of the Windward Islands Teachers Union and the Chairperson of FAVE Josianne Fleming. A follow up meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday evening with the school board.
President of the WITU said the union is planning to take further action because teachers on St. Maarten have no protection. Elshot said the teaching profession has been exempted from the dismissal law in the labor department. She said that the WITU is planning a general membership meeting on Thursday June 3 where they are going to begin planning for general actions. "We are going to do what is needed to be done until St. Maarten gets a labor mediator and Minister of Education here to deal with our plight." Elshot said.
