Archive of posts from Saba-News.com Archive Saba News
In a letter to the Executive Council, the association of parents and other stake-holders express their demands regarding the elections of a new schoolboard, now that all former board-members have resigned.
The letter can be seen here-after or can be downloaded at:
http://www.sabaweb.nl/New%20SEF%20Board.pdf
Good bout damn time and from my knowledge the board was told to quit. Commissioner Johnson already talkin to his friends to replace them and if that happen then we back at square one just with different faces. The only way to move on is to elect qualified 5 people into this position that know and give a damn about education and not personal gain.
As for CXC, I never understand why it being used. We are the Netherlands and not the British Islands, and us Dutch citizens we need to demand that change. No academic kids go to school in the Caribbean so CXC is not the right.
The vocational children should learn from CXC as this where they need to go to school yet they learn from Dutch MBO that don’t prepare them proper and they can’t meet the Caribbean standard, and the Dutch taught is to low level for them to study in Bonnair.
Just ask the graduation class from last year that went to Bonnaire and had to leave but couldn’t get into Caribbean schools because they academics not strong enough. Is that they faults? The whole thing is ass backward so it seem. But good that the board resign but I hope it don’t let them women off the damn hook for their crookedness. Job well done Miss Klaber but lots more to do.
Now that the SEF board members have resigned, I have heard a rumor that Christalle Klaber and Janet will probably be nominated as new board members?
Is this true?
Well for all that work that Mrs Klaber has put into for the last months I feel she was the one most open and vocal. It would not be fair to her for her hard work to just bypass her not to give her the post as president to the new board. It was her that was handing out petitions and delivered the letter to OCW.
Mrs klaber, I congratulate you in advance and hope that those in position will call upon you and remember that you were always open and vocal. You may finally get what you wanted. Hats off to you.
CA. Gumbs
Ha ha Saffy you say you hope that they don’t let them ex board members off the hook for their crookedness.well now that they no longer are board members they should tell bout the crookedness that the ex principal committed. time will tell who the real crook is.
on Saba plenty times there is so much unfairness. people that should not get certain things end up getting them. Christalle Klaber i propose that if the government does not nominate you to the new sef board and most importantly as the new president I say that everyone support Mrs Klaber in an official letter to governemt. war will break out if no one stands up for her. who else had the balls enough to speak out? who met with the government, who was active on facebook, who called the meetings if not Klaber? she was never scared and as we all know her tongue has no bone in it. I say to all those she fought for now you have to return the favor and fight for her. she went out on a limb for you. fight for her to be on the board as president.
Be aware of the fact that the Saba Educational Foundation has statutes. Not knowing the content of the statutes but looking at the procedure for appointing board members in the past, it might be impossible to change that procedure without having changed the statutes first. And changing the statutes can now only be done as soon as there will be a new board.
My advice is: look first at the SEF-statutes before making proposals.
what is this i am hearing!!!!!???? that the government is asking hemmie van xanten to be on the sef board??????????have these people gone bananas??please tell me that is not true. that would be going from the pressure cooker into the fire
Jake, you said and I quote, “Now that they no longer are board members they should tell bout the crookedness that the ex principal committed. time will tell who the real crook is.”
First off you are walking on thin ice….you are committing slander without any proof. I suggest that you check your facts and get your story straight. This gossip has been going on way too long.
It is utterly impossible for any principle to write a check to pay for anything of a large amount for themselves. Yes there are other ‘Foundations’ and organizations and even government offices where employees have taken large amounts of funds but I will tell you that Mr. Hemmie has not taken any money for himself. If that had been the case Mr. Hemmie would have prosecuted.
If you really want to tell this story then I would suggest you march yourself down to the SCS school and speak with Mr. Jeff Johnson who is the person who handles the paying of the bills and the writing of checks. You have to go through this man before anything can be paid and the board has to sign the checks that are written over a certain amount.
There are also audits that are made of these funds on a regular basis…so before you go yelling crook….you might want to check your facts and stop the character assassination of a hard working and dedicated educator.
Mr. Hemmie need to be put back in his position of running the school and not this Dutch man that dont know Sabans and our ways. All them teachers sent away should be apologize to and brought back to the island. These new teachers think they still in the British islands but this is the Netherlands. Dave better shut his damn mouth if he know what good for him. Maybe Dave should hire a boat and take them all back to the islands including heself
What resigned! They were forced to step down! They did not do it on their own, don’t try to fool people and while there is no school board the commissioner is trying to get people to join the board secretly.
Why don’t he send out a letter to all parents to see who will be willing to take the part of the board like the SHS did? Nah, they want to control everyone that on the board so they will not do it that way…but keep in mind we the parents will not stand for nonsense no more.
So commissioner know what you are doing… you are not in charge no more. Keep that in mind..and to set the record straight Christalle do not want to be NO president of the board, that was not her intention for doing what she has done…
Compliments to all those people (incl. Cristalle, Terry and others) for what they achieved.
I don’t like some contributions in the discussion about the selection of a new board.
Although Cristalle deserves all praisals for speaking out in the way she did on behalf of the parents; leading an action and protest is something different from managing and leading a schoolboard. In my view Cristalle should be honoured by an important role in representing the parents in the so-called Medezeggenschapsraad (Participative Council).
In the board of a school one should have people who have a background and experience in fields such as: (vocational) education, social sciences, management, financial management, labour market, and especially important is independance from local politics and government. This means: no politicians nor civil servants because of incompatibility of interests. And yes of course understanding the local situation, habits and relations is an important issue as well.
So the next challenge is not so much the democratic way of choosing a new board, but more: finding people who have the expertise mentioned above. And please don’t accuse me of being interested in such a position as a board member, for I’m 72 years old and I don’t like to have the responsibilties of such a board anymore, apart from the fact that I have mainly experience in (international) higher education and post- academic adult education and not local VMBO. That is why I accepted just for one year the position of president of the Foundation Social Workplace and resigned after that year.
Wishing all the best for the future of Saba, for youngsters, for economy, nature and culture and in short for all the values of this paradise, I hope that after all this commotion about the Comprehensive School a good future can be built up.
Dear Jake, Dearly Departed, Rene, CA, Saffy and other nicknames used to react to this site.As parent I have a message to you all.
You can debate about the past and put the blame wherever you feel the blame should be. The fact remains that our students visit the school each day and are suppose to learn not only what the curriculum is expected, but more so how to think critically and become an independent learner who can come to conclusions and solutions unique to the individual. Might sound difficult but it actually means that what teacher Noah was doing in his class was to create such learners.
I understand from my child that the ex-school board recruited a number of experienced CXC teachers who prepare students solemnly for the CXC exam. There is no critical thinking in their teaching. No participation or discussion going on. My child complaints about the amount of copying they have to do from the board while the school has two major copy machines and each class has a smaller copy machine. These teaching practices where used in the eighties and beginning nineties. We are now 25 years later and this is again happening at the SCS. Is that the way the school board wanted to change the direction when several staff members had to leave?
A curriculum outline was developed explaining each teacher what needs to be taught. So far, the new teachers are not using this document and just go their own way. Mr. Anton Hermans, it is your duty and responsibility to check on this and monitor the teaching and adjust accordingly. Our children are not to be compared to those on other islands. We are Saba and have a vision for our students which is focused on USA or Europe. So besides the board members gone, I feel that the developed educational vision is gone too. Mr. Hermans, if you decide to stay than you better shape up and show a more pro-active attitude towards the students of Saba. Your presentation last Monday was just appealing. For you the same; shape up or shape out.
I salute Christalle who already mentioned that a new school with a new vision was needed. Well now is the time to move forward and give our children what they deserve; modern 2015 based education. And excuse me for this, but any teacher who does not find him/herself in this vision should leave SCS and look for a job somewhere else.
Last but not least, thanks to those who sent the board home. A new bright future for SCS is showing on the horizon, as long as board members are committed and have the education of each individual student at heart.
On another note, the following:
1. The school has no school board
2. Has a staffunctionaris which cost a fortune but is no longer needed (the board is gone anyway).
3. Has a number of new teachers who have no clue how the future will look like.
4. Has a new director who has no clue which direction he has to go at the moment.
5. Has a developed and appoved curriculum which is totally ignored and not controlled.
6. Has a care coordinator who has no contact with the students and therefore shows her daily emotions.
7. Has a new Dutch teacher who has mainly interest in her own son’s educational development and no contact with other students.
8. Has a business teacher who is asking students to look for a nice Colombian woman for him while he is on leave here (4 months). After that he has to go back to Barbados.
9. Has a business teacher who likes to impress young female students and touch them when he likes. (Sexual harassment/abuse)
10. Has teaching styles at the SCS which are outdated and relate to the mid sixties.
11. Has teachers’ interest in the well being of the students like last year dropped tremendously.
12. Has a Director Mr. Hermans who made a very poor impression during last Monday night’s parent teacher meeting which makes you wonder if he can handle a school in this situation
13. Has teachers from different cultural backgrounds which are already comparing Mr. Hermans with Mr. Boeken….. discrimination
14. Has created for each teacher a school email account with a password that needs to be registered at the director’s office so that he can check the email traffic of each individual teacher.
15. Has developed an attitude for my child and others to dislike to go to school, compared to last year when they enjoyed each day in school.
When you read all this, then what on earth are we doing on Saba? Do we all let this just happen and close our eyes and say at the end that we did not know about this? Has happened before in history. Or are we going to do something about this and shake up the whole system and improve the learning conditions for our children.
Education is something you should not take for granted. The tax payers are paying to improve the education of each child, therefore we should demand from the local and central government to have the best for our children.
At the moment I feel as if my child is going to a third world country educational institute where the teacher dictates and the student swallows and shows appreciation being admitted in the school.
Man, what a change with last year. Was that the change you board members had in mind? To be God Almighty and look down on us as pageants who should humbly serve you?
Sorry, your control of power and dream of being untouchable is over. We as parents will continue to monitor and fight for the future of our children.
For the last two years the teachers spent hundreds (and I do mean hundreds) of hours creating the required curriculum for SCS that would have helped us meet the 2016 Dutch requirements. From what I hear they are not only being ignored but some of the new teachers are starting at the beginning of the subject again instead of moving the students into the next modules. Where is the value in that. Now I hear that students are not using the textbooks that have been paid for with Dutch tax payers money that goes hand in hand with the approved curriculum.
When i took over as Principles of Business Teacher in April 2013 I was shocked to find that there were books at the back of the room that had never been opened by students. Students were being taught by having them copy off the board. I was not popular with the kids at first because i refused to have them copy all the time from the board. I tried to prepare them for what University would be. I made them read and have discussions in class. It was a hard battle and still some students did not understand why I was doing this. Now I hear we are going backwards again. I am dismayed and confused…..where is the new direction?
Saba…..wake up and smell the coffee….
So much is being said about the negativity which took place.
I am sure for most of the teachers whose contract was not renewed it was a shock but I think it is time for everyone to move on.
Give the current teachers and principal a chance to at least get their foot in the door!
Everyone complained about the board, now the board is gone. Let us start with constructive suggestions instead of negative feedback.
These persons acted on the board voluntarily, if you read the comments you would think they got some type of compensation for the negativity and outright personal attacks.
Of course persons will not agree with all decisions made by any board and governing body, but in the interest of the children certain harsh decisions had to be made.
Please end this name calling and bickering about something we have no control over, and if you would like to know the rules that govern the SEF ask the local government or chamber of commerce rep for them.
For the teachers and their well-wishers, THE TIME HAS COME TO MOVE ON!