Student/Teacher showdown at Sandy Point High!!
Education Ministry steps in…
By Stanford Conway - Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes &
Terresa McCall - Reporter SKNVibes.com
SANDY POINT, St. Kitts – HUNDREDS of students were left unattended and milling in the compound yesterday, as classes at the Sandy Point High School were disrupted following an incident involving physical contact between a female teacher and a female student on the previous day.
Responding to a call from a concerned individual, reporters of SKNVibes raced up to Sandy Point High School shortly after midday yesterday and found some students within their classrooms and the majority, in small groups, lazing around the compound, as the principal and teachers were locked in discussion with a team from the Ministry of Education.
SKNVibes learned that when a female teacher accosted a student for not reporting to the detention centre, she retaliated in a physical manner resulting in injuries to the teacher.
After waiting for more than two hours, SKNVibes witnessed the amalgamation of students in front of the building that houses the administrative department as the Principal, Lorozine Williams, and Chief Education Officer Patrick Welcome addressed them.
Williams reproached those students who behaved irresponsibly during the incident, and highly commended others who were in the detention centre and rendered assistance to the teacher.
“For those students who behaved irresponsibly yesterday, I am really disappointed in your behaviour, and those who behaved
responsibly like [name mentioned] and the others who were in the detention centre, I want to commend you highly and to encourage you to stay on track and see things and make sure you do an intervention to assist,” she said.
The Chief Education Officer reminded the students that in the recent past Sandy Point High was classified as the number one school in the Federation, but the reports he heard are now hurting the school and also the community.
“…and you know what you ought to do when it comes to fighting; and you know the policy of the school when it comes to fighting. So that was an issue! The other issue was disrespect to teachers and that came out…and I am saying to myself it was just the other day when this school was number one in the Federation, and now I am hearing all of these kinds of reports that are hurting not only the school, but also the community.”
He continued, guardedly, “I want to refer to a situation that occurred just yesterday when some student did something quite unacceptable, and I know that you understand and you know what I am talking about. The Ministry of Education would not tolerate any student, whether involved in fights, where they disrespect teachers, or whether in fact they express the desire to fight a teacher.
The Ministry would not at all support that kind of behavior, and the Ministry will take the necessary steps to ensure that we address the issue and we send a message, and the message is to all students is that if you reach the stage where you want to put your hand on teachers here is not the place for you.”
~~Adz:Left~~ Welcome told the students that there would not be a recurrence of what happened on Monday, “because we are going to take all of the necessary steps to make sure that no student of the high school would ever even think of repeating what happened yesterday”.
“I want to say to you this afternoon that we expect all to cooperate with your teachers. I learnt of examples where students are fighting teachers, where students are using their cell phones, and when teachers ask them to put it away or take it from them, they want to fight. But they are not going to fight! We will make a decision that if you cannot follow simple school rules, then here is not the place for you. And we will make sure that it does not happen again, because I have a strong feeling that we may not be seeing that student anymore on this compound,” Welcome said to a rousing applause from teachers.
The Chief Education Officer declared that legal action would be taken against those students who started what occurred on Monday and also “those who might have injured the teacher. So it is not just leaving school, it’s taken further where the law will make its final decision and bring justice to Sandy point High School and justice to the teachers”.
Welcome pointed out that the incident was of a very serious nature and cautioned students to recognise the penalty and their limits pertaining to cursing teachers.
“I expect you to respect yourself, respect your parents, and those of you for working hard for good results of your CXC, I want you to continue. And those of you who are involved in behavior unacceptable to the school, we ask you to desist from such so that we can continue again to educate the boys and girls of Sandy Point High School so that we can again become the best school in the Federation,” he said.
SKNVibes learned that in addition to the teacher/student brawl, two female students were also involved in a physical altercation on Monday.
