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Teachers protest
But parent says he never issued threatCarl Gilchrist, Observer staff reporter gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) yesterday voiced support for protesting teachers at Ocho Rios High School in St Ann even as Dale Cobb, the parent accused of threatening a teacher at the school, denied doing so.
Yesterday, the more than 100 teachers stayed out of the classrooms for a second day in protest against what they said was an attack on a male teacher at the school last Thursday by a parent.
The Observer was told that the father of a Grade 11 male student barged onto the school compound and threatened a teacher for reprimanding his son for misbehaving in an examination in December 2007. The father, who they say is a member of the Jamaica Defence Force, was allegedly armed with a knife.
The teachers began protesting the following day.
Yesterday, as a result of the protest, the approximately 2,400 students on roll remained idle.
According to JTA president Ena Barclay, the teachers' union was in full support of the teachers' actions as the JTA did not wish to see a repeat of an incident at the Garlogie Primary and Junior High in Manchester in January where a male teacher was beaten and chopped by a group of young men after he reportedly reprimanded a Grade nine student the day before.
"To date, we still have people running loose after injuring that teacher and we do not want another teacher to be injured because of indiscipline," said Barclay. "They want to send a message to the community that this is something they will not tolerate."
"The fact of the matter is that if something like that happens, coming out of that situation we just had in Garlogie, we must send a clear message. If you are going to be having people invading school rooms and school compounds with machetes, knives and sticks and believe they can do all kinds of things there must come a time when you say it must stop. If we don't do that we are going to have incidents like those in some American schools," she warned.
However, yesterday, Cobb, who said he is not a soldier, but a taxi driver with Maxi Tours, told the Observer that he was surprised to hear allegations in the media that he had threatened a teacher at the school.
"No such thing," Cobb, who said he is a past student of the school, told the Observer.
"Were you told that the teacher in question chucked my son? That is what I went to the school to find out, why he did that to my son," Cobb explained.
An emergency Parent Teachers Association meeting is set for 3:00 pm today at the school to discuss the fate of the Grade 11 student.
"At Ocho Rios High School, we are taking a stance that this type of behaviour is unacceptable," said Dwight Hoilett, the JTA contact teacher at the school. "We have seen an upsurge in recalcitrant, rude, threatening behaviour and we're saying that any time at all that the life of a teacher is in any way threatened or endangered, we're not going to have it."
Hoilett said the incident happened last December during the school's exam period (December 3 to 10) when the younger brother (a Grade nine student) of the student in question was caught cheating in an exam and was told by the teacher to hand in the paper.
The boy, he said, refused and kept writing. At the end of the examination, he turned the paper in, but the teacher refused to accept it. The boy then went for his bigger brother who came and tried to force the teacher to accept the paper.
He also said that on Tuesday, February 5, during a music festival at the school, at which the teacher in question was at the gate collecting entrance fees, the bigger brother came to the gate and tried to enter without paying.
"So he was escorted from the gate in a very calm manner and on the 14th he returned with his father and an uncle and he (the father) proceeded to issue threats to the life and well-being of this teacher," Hoilett said.
Cobb, however, said he did not hear about the exam cheating incident until February 10, as his sons had hidden the information from him.
Of the Tuesday when his son allegedly refused to pay to enter the compound while the concert was in progress, Cobb said: "The Tuesday he asked me to drop him at school so he could pick up a letter. He said when he reached the gate he was asked to pay, but he explained he was just going to pick up a letter. He then turned and started walking away when the teacher held on to his shirt and chucked him. I didn't hear that until two days later."
Cobb said while he was passing the school last Thursday he decided to stop to speak with the teacher.
"I should have gone to the principal, but on the day my son was involved in the incident he tried to speak to the principal and she refused to listen to him, so I said to myself, I don't think I should talk to someone like that," Cobb said.
"I went to the office, with my brother, where my son showed me the teacher and I was about 15 or 20 feet away when I spoke with him. I said 'big man, I come to find out what wrong and why you chuck mi son'.
"He told me to go to the principal.
"My brother then said to him, 'if it was out a road a would a different supp'm'. He (the teacher) then took his cell phone and made a call, then walked between me and my brother to go outside. If we did threaten him, him woulda walk between the two a we so close?" Cobb asked.
Cobb said he was then confronted by the principal after which a policeman came on the scene.
"So I was surprised to hear on the news that I threatened a teacher with knife and had to be escorted from the compound. I am not that type of person," he said.
When the Observer visited the school yesterday, several teachers were sitting at their desks in the staff room, while students were seen milling about the property.
Some students were in full support of the stance taken by the teachers, as expressed by student council representative Daneele Dunn.
"The parent was wrong because he should have come and sorted out the problem with the teacher. He shouldn't have come to bad-up the teacher because that is now causing a strain where our education is concerned," Dunn said.
But parent says he never issued threatCarl Gilchrist, Observer staff reporter gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) yesterday voiced support for protesting teachers at Ocho Rios High School in St Ann even as Dale Cobb, the parent accused of threatening a teacher at the school, denied doing so.
Yesterday, the more than 100 teachers stayed out of the classrooms for a second day in protest against what they said was an attack on a male teacher at the school last Thursday by a parent.
The Observer was told that the father of a Grade 11 male student barged onto the school compound and threatened a teacher for reprimanding his son for misbehaving in an examination in December 2007. The father, who they say is a member of the Jamaica Defence Force, was allegedly armed with a knife.
The teachers began protesting the following day.
Yesterday, as a result of the protest, the approximately 2,400 students on roll remained idle.
According to JTA president Ena Barclay, the teachers' union was in full support of the teachers' actions as the JTA did not wish to see a repeat of an incident at the Garlogie Primary and Junior High in Manchester in January where a male teacher was beaten and chopped by a group of young men after he reportedly reprimanded a Grade nine student the day before.
"To date, we still have people running loose after injuring that teacher and we do not want another teacher to be injured because of indiscipline," said Barclay. "They want to send a message to the community that this is something they will not tolerate."
"The fact of the matter is that if something like that happens, coming out of that situation we just had in Garlogie, we must send a clear message. If you are going to be having people invading school rooms and school compounds with machetes, knives and sticks and believe they can do all kinds of things there must come a time when you say it must stop. If we don't do that we are going to have incidents like those in some American schools," she warned.
However, yesterday, Cobb, who said he is not a soldier, but a taxi driver with Maxi Tours, told the Observer that he was surprised to hear allegations in the media that he had threatened a teacher at the school.
"No such thing," Cobb, who said he is a past student of the school, told the Observer.
"Were you told that the teacher in question chucked my son? That is what I went to the school to find out, why he did that to my son," Cobb explained.
An emergency Parent Teachers Association meeting is set for 3:00 pm today at the school to discuss the fate of the Grade 11 student.
"At Ocho Rios High School, we are taking a stance that this type of behaviour is unacceptable," said Dwight Hoilett, the JTA contact teacher at the school. "We have seen an upsurge in recalcitrant, rude, threatening behaviour and we're saying that any time at all that the life of a teacher is in any way threatened or endangered, we're not going to have it."
Hoilett said the incident happened last December during the school's exam period (December 3 to 10) when the younger brother (a Grade nine student) of the student in question was caught cheating in an exam and was told by the teacher to hand in the paper.
The boy, he said, refused and kept writing. At the end of the examination, he turned the paper in, but the teacher refused to accept it. The boy then went for his bigger brother who came and tried to force the teacher to accept the paper.
He also said that on Tuesday, February 5, during a music festival at the school, at which the teacher in question was at the gate collecting entrance fees, the bigger brother came to the gate and tried to enter without paying.
"So he was escorted from the gate in a very calm manner and on the 14th he returned with his father and an uncle and he (the father) proceeded to issue threats to the life and well-being of this teacher," Hoilett said.
Cobb, however, said he did not hear about the exam cheating incident until February 10, as his sons had hidden the information from him.
Of the Tuesday when his son allegedly refused to pay to enter the compound while the concert was in progress, Cobb said: "The Tuesday he asked me to drop him at school so he could pick up a letter. He said when he reached the gate he was asked to pay, but he explained he was just going to pick up a letter. He then turned and started walking away when the teacher held on to his shirt and chucked him. I didn't hear that until two days later."
Cobb said while he was passing the school last Thursday he decided to stop to speak with the teacher.
"I should have gone to the principal, but on the day my son was involved in the incident he tried to speak to the principal and she refused to listen to him, so I said to myself, I don't think I should talk to someone like that," Cobb said.
"I went to the office, with my brother, where my son showed me the teacher and I was about 15 or 20 feet away when I spoke with him. I said 'big man, I come to find out what wrong and why you chuck mi son'.
"He told me to go to the principal.
"My brother then said to him, 'if it was out a road a would a different supp'm'. He (the teacher) then took his cell phone and made a call, then walked between me and my brother to go outside. If we did threaten him, him woulda walk between the two a we so close?" Cobb asked.
Cobb said he was then confronted by the principal after which a policeman came on the scene.
"So I was surprised to hear on the news that I threatened a teacher with knife and had to be escorted from the compound. I am not that type of person," he said.
When the Observer visited the school yesterday, several teachers were sitting at their desks in the staff room, while students were seen milling about the property.
Some students were in full support of the stance taken by the teachers, as expressed by student council representative Daneele Dunn.
"The parent was wrong because he should have come and sorted out the problem with the teacher. He shouldn't have come to bad-up the teacher because that is now causing a strain where our education is concerned," Dunn said.
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