Dear Editor,
After spending more than a decade in the teaching profession, I’m now in an unpleasant situation where I feel that I’m being punished by education officials for daring to seek professional mobility. In January 2020, I was sent to Annandale Secondary School after an incident involving a media outlet during the last week of the Christmas Term 2019, at Ann’s Grove Secondary School. HGP Nightly News broadcast a story about me without verifying the information it received or reaching out to me for a comment. In the broadcast, I was accused of not conducting examinations for the subject, Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) and Grade 9 Spanish, by two persons who claimed to be parents. Also, a cowardly person who was given anonymity by the media entity and labelled as a senior teacher made allegations against me without showing any evidence to substantiate his/her claims.
If the Editor and reporter of this newscast were interested in broadcasting factual information and not misinformation, they could have at least verified what was given to them. To begin with, I never taught HFLE and was not even in that Department. At the time, it was common knowledge that for this subject a ‘Letter Grade’, which does not contribute to the overall percentage, would be assigned by the relevant teachers instead of conducting an examination. Also, Spanish was not offered in Grade 9 and I was not even tasked with teaching any Grade 9 classes by the administrative staff. And on the matter of a ‘teacher’ disparaging me, why should I even defend myself against an anonymous person without a shred of evidence whose gender cannot be deduced because this news entity even granted voice distortion as a second layer of anonymity?
Although the allegations made against me could have been easily debunked, the architect(s) of this charade unveiled my proven innocence and possibly offered an apology. Not surprisingly, no internal investigation or meeting was undertaken. Instead, I was sent off to another school as if I were the villain. I believe that petty minds conjured this farce because I sought career advancement through further academic training and this was not viewed favourably. For instance, after completing my academic programme and shortly before the fake broadcast, I requested a document from the administrator to aid the process of ‘upgrading’ my designation at the school. I was denied the document and given a frivolous excuse instead. Eventually, I was forced to complain to an external body in order to get this document. Furthermore, throughout my programme I was met with hurdles at my former workplace which I fortunately overcame.
These weren’t the only issues confronted, many times I felt that I was treated unfairly when compared to my colleagues and even faced ‘public humiliation’ in the presence of my colleagues and students. The farce involving the news entity and all the other unpleasantness and workplace conflicts that occurred before could have been avoided if the education officials who were contacted many times had actually listened to the grievances of the parties, dealt with them fairly and resolved the matters raised amicably. Now, for over two years, I’ve been placed at a school where I am treated as a temporary staff. Also, due to the unwillingness of education officials to process my ‘transfer’ and the unresolved manner in which I was sent to the school, as if I was guilty of all allegations made against me, I don’t have the same privileges as other teachers and I am not included in internal decision-making or made aware or included in routine changes.
For instance, during the middle of a term two classes were taken from me and given to a new teacher. I wasn’t even told of the change until the teacher informed me. Recently, the Head of Department (HOD) retired and a teacher who is junior to me (according to her status recorded in the time-book) was given the position of acting HOD. While this may be perfectly in order I wasn’t included in the discussion regarding changes to our department. There are many other little things but what it comes down to is the fact that I am now being seen as a temporary teacher, a villain and an outsider with less privileges and no voice after being in the education system for over a decade. Editor, I am calling on the Ministry of Education to rectify this situation and treat me like a valued employee and professional. Why am I being punished for daring to seek academic and professional advancement?
Sincerely,
(Name and address provided)
