Sarah says plan for dealing with
troubled youth under discussion
PHILIPSBURG--While Oranje School principal Kay Philips is recovering from injuries sustained when she was shoved during a fracas at the school involving two sixth-grade pupils last week Friday, teachers of the school have submitted a letter of grievance to the Executive Council demanding a new policy for dealing with children with behavioural problems.
Education Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams confirmed to The Daily Herald yesterday that the Council had received the letter, which was in the possession of the Department of Public Education.
She said yesterday afternoon she had had a meeting with Director of Public Education Oldine Bryson-Pantophlet and several education officials. In addition to discussing the implementation of compulsory education, they examined a plan of approach for intervention in behavioural problems at school.
She said the problem was not being experienced only at Oranje School, as similar incidents had been reported at other schools. However, she had met with the management of Oranje School on the day of the incident and the details of the situation had been discussed.
In addition, since receiving the letter from the teachers of the school she has asked Bryson-Pantophlet to schedule a meeting with the school’s staff to make a decision on how to deal with the two pupils accountable for Principal Philips’ injuries.
In the letter, a copy of which was made available to The Daily Herald, the teachers asked a series of questions on the matter of penalties for such actions as those of the two pupils: “What is the action plan for dealing with such violence in school? Are you satisfied that the Education Board chose to suspend one of the offending students and not the other? What punishment is in place to discourage such behaviour?”
The teachers believe a short suspension is hardly a deterrent.
“What happened when one of our students chose to threaten his fellow students with a knife last year? Oh, yes, he served his suspension, perhaps paid lip service to whatever counselling was offered and now he is set to return to our school full time. Are we to accept this remedy? Or do we have to wait until one of our students or teachers is actually killed before you consider our plight?
“We have repeatedly asked to have such violent students removed from the mainstream education, to no avail. We appreciate that there are no facilities or special schools currently available to deal with this situation, but should it be at least considered? At present, the solution is simply to send the student home to serve a suspension, and then welcome them back to await the next attack.”
The teachers continued: “We as teachers are charged with educating the children (a somewhat thankless task these days – just a burden upon the budget, we gather) and we really must insist that we are afforded a safe environment in which to carry out our task.
“Having violent children persistently forced upon us is somewhat counterproductive. If, for instance, we have to deal with one problem per day, we lose perhaps one hour of teaching time and the whole class suffers. If the problems are repeated on a daily basis (which they do), we lose more valuable teaching time.
“Persisting with the current policy of returning problem students to the mainstream of education is entirely detrimental to the education received by the rest of the students.
“We try our best to cooperate with the Board of Education regarding all policies and requests. We continue to adapt to new ideas, and participate in new courses aimed at improving the system. We tolerate your lack of respect and appreciation, but we will not tolerate physical attacks on colleagues or persistent attacks on fellow students by these problem children.”
Reflecting on these statements, the Commissioner said that, as pointed out in her remarks in Wednesday’s Executive Council press briefing, expulsion of these pupils, who are not even 12 yet, is not ideal as there are no alternatives for them.
Therefore, she said, taking the matter from a constitutional perspective, government needs to make decisions as to how to provide these alternatives structurally. She said that as there was presently no remedial assistance for these problem youths, she agreed that removing them from the regular education system would be ideal.
The teachers also requested that the issue of their security during working hours be considered.
“We appreciate the fact that you provide security guards for the school at night to protect your assets and investment. All we ask is that you consider the teachers as assets too. We are not asking for armed guards, surveillance equipment or ‘boot camps,’ we are simply asking for some kind of recognition to our daily plight and some consideration and discussion to seek a workable, affordable solution.”
In the letter, the teachers also said that, apart from ever-increasing encounters with violent conduct from pupils, it was also being encountered from family members of the pupils. They said sometimes the violence was directed at children and sometimes towards the teachers and management of the school.
On this matter, the Commissioner said a serious intervention must be put in place from the primary school level involving parental assistance. She said in Wednesday’s press briefing that ultimately the most preventive approach to behavioural difficulties came from the parents, who should guide their children at home in facing day-to-day encounters at school.
On the contrary, she said, the issue at stake will not be approached case-by-case, but instead by setting out a concrete plan to tackle the problem.
