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St. John’s, May 22, 2017
Re : Invitation Town Hall Meeting
Dear SCS Stakeholders,
By means of this letter we respond to the information we received last Friday, May 19, 2017, about the Town Hall Meeting.
On May 11th, The Saba Educational Foundation (SEF) held an informative meeting with both the Island Council and the Executive Council. During said meeting, both Councils were given a thorough and detailed explanation of the financial woes of the Saba Comprehensive School.
The precarious financial situation of our school will soon be a thing of the past, come August 2017.
A few teachers will become redundant per August 1st, because after 10-10-10, too many teachers were hired. Approximately 91% of the school’s revenues is spent on salaries, leaving very little money for educational materials and for the students.
The number of contact hours will once again be 35 per week, this is the normal amount of lesson hours at any school (this was also the case formerly at the SCS). This move does not necessarily affect the quality of education. In the past we achieved passing rates of 100 % which was quite normal with the same 35 hour timetable per week.
We have promised both the Executive Council and the Executive Council that we would inform the parents accordingly. This information will not be shared in general meeting, because the changes differ per form / group, but we shall do so in target group settings. Meetings will be held and parents/guardians will be invited to inform them about the upcoming Academic Year 2017-2018 before the summer break. One parent/guardian evening has already been organized. Other sessions have been planned.
It stands to reason, that the School Board and school management will continue with the process as agreed upon with the Island Council and the Executive Council.
We therefore informed the organizer of the meeting, that we will not attend the meeting later today. We have invited the organizer to join the Participation Council as one of the representatives of the parents/guardians and actively contribute to the further development of the SCS.
The Saba Educational Foundation (SEF).
Well, well, well
I would say that this response from the SEF Board is not only badly written, but again spins a very differing take on the situation at the Saba Comprehensive School, now laying blame dating back to 10/10/10. Conveniently, after a majority of Caribbean teachers have been let go, by August things will be better. Very convenient and very contrived.
So, who is to blame Mr. Wilson and SEF Board? Is it Mr. Boeken? Mr. Van Xanten? 10/10/10?
The biggest question is, when will this board and current Director take accountability for the situation that the school is in.
If you knew the school was overstaffed, then why did you wait until now to fix it?
What have you been doing for the past three years to allow this to happen?
You are saying that education won’t suffer but that’s not what teachers at the school have said when it was openly discussed at a meeting with them that education WILL suffer. Will you now admit to the parental stakeholders that you intend to lump all vocational grade levels together . in one class. Will you admit that there will only be one Mathematics teacher (who lacks any formal qualifications) for the entire student body. My understanding is that you are now hiring teachers completely unfamiliar with the CXC syllabus and who speak English as a second language, yet you seem to think that the community will accept your conveniently REVISED version that the quality of education won’t suffer!
Nobody believes a word that this board has to say as they keep changing their story, but no surprise, considering who sits at the helm of SEF runs it, while running the school into the ground. Excuses, excuses and blaming everyone else to protect yourselves and your nice little paycheque that you collect each month.
If the board do not show up at the meeting tonight and keep running away from the community that they have been entrusted to serve, then it is my belief that we the parents, seek immediate action to terminate all board members and dismantle the SEF foundation for good. As it stands, my child and about 5 -6 other students are leaving SCS next year to complete their studies in other schools. This board has let our children down with their oversights and incompetence. Furthermore, this board has let down their staff and betrayed and lied to the community. It’s time to end the deceit and corruption by abolishing the SEF board once and for all!
Enough is enough!
The meetings is still being held tonight in The Bottom. Please attend.
Concerned parent.
I believe that this is not the way to handle the situation.
Do you know how difficult it is to find people to VOLUNTEER their time to serve on school boards, let alone on Saba??
I feel that if all parents are so concerned about the wellbeing of their children they should volunteer their time to either join the board or the participation council which BTW was mentioned in the article above.
To long people are sitting on the sidelines and not doing anything to better the situation on Saba, it is very easy to cast blame on others when you are not sitting in the chair actually doing the work.
I believe the SEF and the SCS has the best intentions for the children on Saba but we as parents also have to do our part.
This should not turn into a blame game.
Whomever the organizer of the meeting is I know you are trying your best and this is why you and others should volunteer your time to become school board members, this will enable you to better grasp what the responsibilities are and maybe even do a better job.
I advise you to also accept the invitation from the board and promote others to join the PC as well.
Do it for the kids, do it for the future of Saba.
They are not volunteering their time they are getting paid. In the past it has been mention for parents to go on the school board which we had an agreement with the former Comm. Of Education Christopher Johnson. We had agreed upon 5 board members not 3. This 3 board members which was done in the past shouldn’t have continued. We also agreed on elections for the school board.
There are many willing to volunteer their time on the schoolboard, the question is do the school board Want anymore members?