Garwin Davis, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
The stand-off between teachers and principal of the Marcus Garvey Technical High School in St. Ann, continues after meetings with the school board and representatives from the Ministry of Education.
Since Thursday, there have been no classes at the school following Principal Leslie Riley's decision to send the students home in light of the problem.
Following a staff meeting between teachers last Wednesday, the educators staged a symbolic protest by attiring themselves in black outfits. They were adamant that they will not accept Mr. Riley's style of leadership.
A defiant Mr. Riley then called an emergency meeting with the grade 11 students which according to reports got ugly when other students decided to pelt the auditorium, the meeting place, with stones.
"He was telling the students that it was all the teachers fault that problems were developing at the school to which the students reacted violently," one teacher told The Sunday Gleaner during a visit to the school on Friday. "It was then that Mr. Riley sensed that things were getting out of control and decided to suspend classes - a wise move based on what was about to happen."
On Friday, with the students staying away, the situation between the teachers and the principal got so intense that the Chairman of the Board, Custos of St. Ann, R.O. Walters along with Ministry of Education representatives were forced to call an emergency meeting.
Mr. Riley, who has been principal for only 11 months, declared that there was an orchestrated plot by 'a select few' to oust him from his job. He charged that there was a direct smear campaign launched against him by some teachers who had even gone as far as to enlist students as willing accomplices.
"I got a call this morning from a teacher from Brown's Town who told me of some serious allegations he had heard," Mr. Riley said. "He said he had heard that my troubles had stemmed from the fact that I was smoking marijuana in my office and that I was a homosexual. There is a systematic approach to undermine and discredit what I am trying to do at this school. There is an active smear campaign which is all part of a strategy to paint a picture of me in a negative light and which they hope will ultimately lead to my removal."
But the teachers, in the presence of the chairman and the Education Ministry's representatives got up to refute Mr. Riley's charges. "He makes decision without consulting teachers and behaves as if we are clowns and that he is the head of a circus," explained Andrea Miller, teacher. "Nobody can talk to him - if a teacher decides to question his approach you will automatically get into his bad book."
Tricia Robb-Brown, another teacher agreed. "He has no regards for teachers," she said. "I have been here for five years and I have had it. Since he was appointed in January, discipline at the school has plummeted. When you have a situation where a principal and a student are actively engaged in a fist fight, how much lower can you go?"
Mr. Riley, however, refutes the allegation that he was involved in a fist fight with a student, noting that the male student was acting up and he was forced to discipline him.
Four years ago, principal Winston Allen who had been at the helm at Marcus Garvey for 27 years was forced to resign after parents staged a massive protest against him which lasted for a number of days. Lansville Duhaney lasted only four months as interim principal while his replacement, Bevar Moodie served for two years before transferring to Jose Marti High School where he is the current principal. The school also two years ago made headlines when over half of the school-leaving students could not graduate because of problems associated with illiteracy.
