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Today the board of the Saba Educational Foundation updated its stakeholders of the current developments regarding the (unofficial) complaint by students of the school about inappropriate behavior by a teacher of the school.
On Tuesday 1 March 2016, two (unofficial) complaints were made about inappropriate behavior by a teacher of the school. The next day, another complaint was received. Following from these complaints, the management team of the Saba Comprehensive School had a meeting with the teacher in question in order to discuss the complaints.
Unfortunately, on 7 March 2016, the Saba Comprehensive School was confronted with an anonymous opinion that was posted on the website of Saba News. The writer of the letter stated that female students of the Saba Comprehensive School had been approached by a teacher of the school who would have made inappropriate remarks and suggestions towards these students. The opinion furthermore stated that four parents came to the Saba Comprehensive School to file an official complaint at the director of the school, Mr. Hermans. For completeness sake we hereby note that the director has not been approached by any parent regarding these complaints.
With or without the opinion article, the school board wished to investigate the situation further and so the school board decided on 11 March 2016 to take a mandatory measure (ordemaatregel) of suspending the teacher in question during this further research.
On 11 March 2016, the Saba Comprehensive School also gave notice to the Police Department of Saba that it would like to be informed by the police, whether the actions of the teacher in question would qualify as a punishable offense. Alternatively, the Saba Comprehensive School requested the Police Department of Saba to inform the school whether further research on the issue is deemed necessary by the police or not.
Last week, the school board received the outcome of the investigation that was conducted by the public prosecutor. The public prosecutor is of the opinion that at this moment there is neither evidence that the teacher in question committed a criminal act, nor a reason to launch an investigation.
Proceeding on the aforementioned opinion of the public prosecutor, the school decided that as of Monday the 21st of March 2016, the teacher in question will no longer be suspended for the purpose of an investigation. Therefore the teacher in question will resume the duties.
The Saba Comprehensive School again wishes to apologize to you for all the unrest that was caused not only within the school, but also within the wider community. Please be informed that during the whole process, the Saba Comprehensive School acted ethically, with due care and in accordance with all the provisions currently in force.
Also, the Saba Comprehensive School regrets it even more that media attention has been sought by some people, without prior consultation with the school or the management. The Saba Comprehensive School therefore (again) calls attention to the fact that if any direct stakeholder and/or general community member has any questions, concerns or suggestions, the school can be contacted directly.
Please also be informed that students, parents/guardians and staff can join the Student Body, the Parent Body or the Participation Council to actively contribute to the further development of the Saba Comprehensive School and to constructively voice ideas on the school’s affairs.
Press release Saba Educational Foundation.