Opinion: We need to know what is going on at the SCS

Dear Editor,

I am one of many con­cerned parents that have a lot of questions since the two letters were given out by the schoolboard of Saba Comprehensive School last month. The seriousness of these letters is quite alarm­ing. It makes me really won­der how the school got into this financial mess in the first place.

Now we are losing good teachers, some teachers have been here for years. One teacher has been here for 12 years. If all our Caribbean teachers have to go and we have the CXC system, the schoolboard can’t expect to bring in Dutch teachers from Holland to teach CXC. They don’t know the system and English can be a bar­rier. What will happen to those children in Form 5 for example? They are the ones that will be in the examina­tion class.

If the classes are to be less, I am sure the quality of education will drop, despite what the school board is claiming. I have spoken to different educational       professionals, and they are very worried themselves about the direction our secondary education is heading.

There needs to be more stability in the school. Starting weal a school board that represents parents, teachers and children, not a school board that is handpicked by the government. There needs to be at least 5 school board members, not only 3 that they have now. There needs to be elections for a school board in my opinion.

The school belongs to all of us, not only a selected few. The teachers in the school have tried their utmost best with all our children. It is not an easy job, but I say thank you for all you do. It is much appreciated!

I have been up there by the school so many of times, and you can feel it is not a happy environment. What changed? What went wrong? Who will take responsibility for all the issues the school is facing? School board, Prin­cipal, Island Government, Dutch Government, who? The parents waited long enough for the school board (SEF) to arrange a meeting, so we had to take it upon ourselves to do it.

There was an urgent letter/ notice, signed by 50 parents/ guardians, requesting the schoolboard to attend a pub­lic meeting to discuss serious issues that are facing/affect­ing Saba Comprehensive School.

Due to the fact that these issues are very important and crucial, with the time also drawing near for the school to go on summer break, we need to know what is going on.

Even though this meeting is last-minute, we hope that all stakeholders will attend this very important meeting to receive the clarification that is badly needed.

Christalle Klaber

A concerned parent