Submitted by Neil Watchman
Minister of Education Ronald Jones (l) Dr. Gladstone Best, Principal of the BCC
In December last year, it was rumoured that the Principal of the BCC, Dr. Gladstone (Gallstone) Best had decided to abolish the general staff meeting held on the first day of semester and instead, hold individual meetings with the various Divisions. That was no rumour; to date the Principal has held surreptitious meetings with two such Divisions: the Division of Commerce and the Division of General Education. On both occasions outspoken tutors in either Division grilled him on this move and other matters. The lame duck CPAC (so-called College Planning and Advisory Committee) has requested (N.B. not “demanded”) that the meetings be restored.
By this act of ‘division’ the principal has effectively fractured an institution already alienated both in nomenclature and in spirit in order to maintain his tenuous position. It is now recognized that his action was taken to preempt a planned motion of no confidence against him, a move advocated by some of the more militant members of staff.
The once-a-semester meeting allowed current members to meet new staff, hear about retirements, academic achievements etc. explanations for any contentious issues and keep staff up to date on pending actions. Of course, staff members have used this occasion to vent their frustration with the administration (aka the Principal) which has come under increasing fire for a string of malfeasances ranging from late payments to staff (the Principal is chief Finance Officer according to the BCC Act) to the dire state of the physical plant to deteriorating security.
Readers who have not been following the BCC saga – see http://barbadosunderground.net/2013/12/22/barbados-community-college-conversation-continued/) should note that the Board advertised the job of Principal in October 2012. We gather that at least three members of staff applied for the post but to date there has not been one interview! It appears that the Principal appealed once again to Ronald Jones and brought in “the union” which, it is alleged, argued that he was being “constructively dismissed” (Readers should note that the Principal is hired under contract; his permanent job is that of Deputy Principal which means that no one can be appointed permanently as Deputy Principal; this has been the situation for nearly eleven year now!)
Here is Wikipedia’s basic definition of constructive dismissal: In employment law, constructive dismissal, also called constructive discharge, occurs when employees resign because their employer’s behaviour has become so intolerable or heinous or made life so difficult that the employee has no choice but to resign. The article which cites 46 sources, can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_dismissal. Since the principal did not resign we can only assume that the reported reason for his survival is false and that either Ronald Jones intervened once again to save him (which is more than likely), that the Board led by Stephen Broome is absolutely asinine or that the Principal has entered into a tacit agreement to facilitate the Chairman’s pork barrel exploits at the BCC (or all of the above!).
I would not put it pass the union to use the ruse they appear to have employed to get a stay of execution for the Principal; they have done similar before! Like too many institutions in Barbados which once served us well, the major unions are floundering in the oil of pork barrel corruption that is endemic to Barbados and which escapes the probes of Transparency International!
Under the leadership of a former chairman, Mr. Bertram Carter, Dr. ‘Gallstone’ Best would have been “passed out” of the leadership of BCC long ago. The former chairman easily saw through his incompetence, dithering and lack lustre performance quite quickly. But it was Ronald Jones to the rescue. The chairman’s recommendation was countermanded, Mr. Carter was removed as chairman and the rest, as they say, is history.
In case the readers have not got the point: there is nothing commendable about the current Principal that should warrant his retention; his survival is due entirely to the fact that he is member of Ronald Jones’ constituency and now (it is alleged) a member of the same ‘lodge’ Mr. Jones attends.
Six reasons for not rehiring Dr. “Gallstone” Best:
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As Chief Finance Officer, Dr. Best, by his lack of vision and proaction, allowed the Bursar to “return” over one million dollars in funding and for the Government to serially cut the BCC budget each year over the last four years. In his last graduation speech (2012) he made an infantile attempt to ask the government for more funding for BCC! Incredible!
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As chief Disciplinary Officer (see BCC Code of Conduct and Staff Manual), Dr. Best has violated written college policies with respect to the timeliness of the hearing cases of disciplinary action against both staff and students, the case of the tutor Natalie Walrus-Jones being the most outstanding, pun intended! This has created an atmosphere of frustration and a feeling of being besieged among staff.
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Under his chairmanship of CPAC the BCC pass mark was dropped from 50% to 45%. Still students struggle to attain this mark. The pass mark ought to have been retained or raised (as UWI has done). What was required was for him to initiate bold, imaginative policies to raise the standard of teaching, extend library hours, weed out loafing students and screen applicants more effectively.
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As the officer ultimately responsible, he has failed to do anything about the dangerously lax security especially at night. Finding a guard when needed is like finding a needle in a haystack. The guards are on a perpetual work-to-rule of their own making.
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As figurehead Dr. “Gallstone” Best has failed to defend the image of the College when it was attacked in the main media on at least two occasions during his tenure. (See management writer Mintzberg on this role of leaders here: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/management-roles.htm).
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In his informational role: monitor, disseminator and spokesperson (Mintzberg op.cit.), the principal has failed to meaningfully communicate with staff. For example, very few staff members are aware of the deliberations on the BCC’s long overdue strategic plan. That is why the act of abolishing the semester meetings is so dangerous; it puts the institution on the slippery path to a dictatorship. A sampling of emails sent out directly by the Principal reads like some ten year olds’ forays into written communication (rather than those of a person with a Ph.D.) both in terms of topics (e.g. cleaning of the College- the job of Maintenance; scholarships- the Deputy Principal’s jurisdiction or mundane events like exhibitions) and length (barely three lines, unless it is a forwarder!)
Our understanding is that Dr. Best’s contract ends in July this year (2014). It remains to be seen what Ronald Jones will “allow” the Board to do about the leadership of this failing institution. One can only advise staff that if Dr. “Gallstone” is not jettisoned then, they should exercise their option to shut down the institution.
P.S. The Principal’s Spanish-speaking, mouthpiece Joe Inniss, perpetual head of the so-called Staff Association and member of the ALA (meaning not fit for public consumption) called a meeting yesterday. It was reportedly attended by about ten persons, a hat trick (or worse)! Poor Joe, the Sancho Panza of the embattled Principal, has not gotten the message yet.
Members of the Staff Association have subscriptions deducted from their salary each month. Their only benefit is a grudging, periodic plate of food (usually near Xmas). (It’s amazing the acquiescence a plate of food can “buy” from the “lickerish”). To the otherwise-minded, now would be a good time to stop those subscriptions until this puppet is removed, especially given the current recession. Why is it that some “dead” people are afraid (or ashamed) or to lie down!
http://smartbuyerschoice.com/probably-the-most-disgusted-you-will-ever-feel-about-chocolate-watch-this-before-you-buy-your-sweetheart-a-valentines-treat/
We would like to hope that as the national economic culture is facing deep shocks that the vibrations therefrom will generate radical transformation of the ‘most man’ culture that imbues every facet of what passes for a nation. It never ceases to amaze us how, for example, we could continue teaching our children foolishness and have cunt holes passing as polymaths or polygoths. How conservative dictators like Best and Beckles could have any role in the transformation of the minds of our young people. How the whole system is completely occupied by an anachronistic bunch of misfits, from top to bottom, that are better located in a bygone era – the early post-slavery period. The only drawback is that even if circumstances were to remove the current bunch there will be other people who would come in to breathe for them, to assume their mind-set, to re-institute a cultural backwardness which maintains a national ignorance.
Hal Austin is a proven fool! That BU uses him as an intellectual prompt on national economy matters is apocryphal. Last week the pretended to have something to say about personal comprehensive financial planning. He didn’t have a clue then, we expect no better this week for Hal Austin understands too little about too much.
@Neil Watchman
“…the Board led by Stephen Broome is absolutely asinine or that the Principal has entered into a tacit agreement to facilitate the Chairman’s pork barrel exploits at the BCC (or all of the above!)”
The Pork Barrel Report has learned that the MIS department of the BCC now has two new members of staff! To the best of our knowledge, they were never announced to BCC staff. This would hopefully have occurred had the general staff meeting been called.
As was stated in a sister blog, BCC Conversation Continued, Chairman Brome has certainly found a way to let DLP faithfuls have access to the BCC Pork Barrel. This he does very slickly through the so-called HR Department led by that dense woman with the double-barrelled name and circa $10,000 a month pay packet.
all of this has occurred against the background of the cutting of the BCC budget about three times in the last three years! Corruption is very endemic in this society but a day of reckoning will come!
Did BU read correctly that Best has been at the BCC for 30 years? Has he refreshed his skills?
@David
If his time as a teacher is added that would probably be true.
On the second point, whether he has refreshed his skills, the first question we have to ask is what (or which) skills? Being a teacher and a being manager or more precisely, a CEO, require two different skill-sets. It is the same type of argument Dr. Leonard Shorey has been advancing for years albeit with respect to different occupational areas.
To the best of my knowledge he has not undertaken any recognized training in management. In his position of Principal he ought to have some working knowledge of strategic management. I gather from some members of staff that he does not and has not displayed any such knowledge (some of which is sheer common sense!). In fact one member of the BCC staff, referred to several times on these BCC blogs (Tull, actually Dr. Aiden Tull), is reported to have openly challenged him some years ago on this very matter.
You would think that someone in his (Best’s) position for so many years would have done some courses in management over the years to make up for any deficiencies in his formal training. No such luck.
A colleague of mine once said words to the effect that if he ever came into a managerial position he would try not to leave it the way he found it ( in a positive sense, of course). I am afraid that when the goodly Principal does leave or is ejected, people will ask in astonishment: what did he do while he was here?
I would dearly like him to come to this blog and defend himself on this matter. I have a feeling, though, that this is beyond his capability.
@ Neil
In Mr. Best’s defense however, one will have to acknowledge that your above assessment can be correctly applied to 90% of the persons currently occupying management positions in Barbados …at all levels….top to bottom.
Even where persons possess management qualifications, it is clear that these are purely academic.
Take some other teachers from a higher hill…. Dr. Frank Alleyne and Dr. Justin Robinson….what management impact have these brought to the Central bank? To the NIS? ..to any shiite? …those damn fellows are not even themselves rich…. Far less successful…so if they can’t help themselves …how the hell can they help a complex organization?
You see Neil, you will come to find that in Barbados, ‘management’ is purely about being rewarded for political prostitution, for sexual favors, for family connections and for Lodge brothers.
On the rare occasion, a competent plant turns up……thus the ten percent… 🙂
@David
A harshly expressed but true-in-principle analysis which does not leave one with much hope for the future while this current politico-commercial system exists!
@Bush Tea
A harshly expressed but true-in-principle analysis which does not leave one with much hope for the future while this current politico-commercial system exists!
Apologies for the previous “mispost”!
Neil Watchman certainly hates the man he calls “Gallstone”
But if Neil was principal would he do any better?
@Simple Simon
You make things seem…so..oo simple!
So Neil Watchman you have gone very quiet. I guess you were too idealistic in expecting things to change up Howells Cross Road. Any news for us? What is the latest with the Principal? Dr. Thompson? Walthrust-Jones? Anything to tell us about the union threatening to close down the College?
Re: What Happen to the BCC Revolution.”
I have been wondering the same thing.
what happened to Walrus?
after all that has been said about her, how come she still terrorizing people’s children?
DO you people realise that her ‘students’ are the weakest?
Kids are sent to do politics when they come to BCC with low CXC grades.
she gets the working class kid who usually attended a lower secondary school, whose english is poor, and who has CXCs in Food and Nutrition, CLothing and Textile, and other such subjects.
dont get me wrong…nothing wrong with these subjects
but why are they doing politics and cant spell or write a simple sentence?
Neil Watchman pull a Harry Houdini pun wunna. He do a disappearing act after he come and excite wunna bout imminent changes that coming up at BCC. Nothing aint change up dere bosey. Wunna did get warn dat nuttin aint gine change but some of wunna naive souls didnt want tuh hear. Wuh loss.
What managerial experience does a professor of theory at one of the top universities in the US, brings to bear upon the political affairs? Little I may add, but he or she most often does a good job. It is called on the job experience brother man.
It is not the kind of degree that matters most to some employers, but the process by which one obtains that degree, is most important to some employers. In the US for example: you just have to mention the names: Harvard, Yale, Stanford or Cornell and the job is yours.
Tom
I do not too much appreciate the way in which you decry those persons who have attended the schools of lesser reputation in Barbados. And I do not care how much seasoning you attempt to apply to mask your egregious and despicable remarks.
Question: what have you and those who have bathed in the bathwater of academic-excellence, done to uplift our human – civilization, but to walk around with a catalogue of antiquated theories and concepts in your heads.
Now, I sad on the BU blog and listening to the intellectual snobby here, besmear the American-educational – system and yet that same system has contributed immeasurably, to the advancement of human civilization in the areas of science and technology.
DONKEY
THIS POEM REMINDS ME OF YOU. DID YOU LEARN IT AT SCHOOL?
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
yOU TRY TO APPEAR AS AN ACADEMIC OR INTELLECTUAL BUT BETRAY YOURSELF AT EVERY TURN.
THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IS BS
I TEACH STUDENTS WITH MASTERS DEGREES WHO ARE AS DUMB AS YOU.
THEY ARE NOTHING LIKE THE LADS WITH WHOM WENT TO SCHOOL AND UWI
IF YOU WERE HONEST, YOU WOULD SAY THE FOLLOWING LIKE THE DONKEY
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
STOP TRYING TO PROMOTE THE USA AS A UTOPIA.
THE USA IS A BANKRUPT UTOPIA THAT IS A GREAT FACADE.
THE GREATEST BRAINS IN THE USA ORIGINATED OUTSIDE OF THE USA- EITHER FROM EUROPE ASIA OR AFRICA
Neil Watchman run away like a female dog with tail between it legs.
Female Dawg, I completely agree with you. I was saying so evah sense. nutten didnt gun come out of all that talk …
wa de walrus big magufey still bout dey terrorising people children and telling dem she hate them.
@brown
If there is a majority of students and their parents who believe the teacher is abusive why don’t you do something about it?
David
you is a joker!! a majority of students think that she should not be around children. a majority of people have tried to do something………all the letters written, etc have fallen on deaf ears.
@brown
You have obviously not done enough.
David
In my teaching experience, it is the wrong doers that get by.
I saw the same thing at BCC in the year I taught there part time.
VB
@GP
We have to find a way for good to win over evil, right and not wrong.
@ David
We have to find a way for good to win over evil, right and not wrong.
+++++++++++++
You living in a dream world skippa….. GP is correct.
The bad boys running things in the real world…..
Just look around….
The fight is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places…..
David
I helped out at BCC in the 97-98 year.
When I gave a young woman 31% in the Pharmacology exam, she offered to pay me to change her score to 60%. She told me that other teachers were doing it.
When I reported this to the Supervisor, she told me she was having difficulty scoring two exams for the same student.
I knew for a fact that what the student said was true, because I had seen the deputy head of the department out very early on sunday mornings with a student
BCC is nothing like it was in 1970-71 when I attended
@GP
This is so sad so frustrating.
Its the same in offshore schools.
i had three girls walk out my exam in 2011 at AIMU after 15 mins.
I followed them to the Dean’s office and overheard him say to them “I will fix it. Just give me some money.
And he sure did. All three of them were passed!
@ Bush Tea
I could kiss your hand for this: “The fight is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places”
And that is where the fight IS.
@ David
Thanks. Things have been happening. There is now a serious court case against the Walthrust-Bourne Complex re. plagiarism of another staff member’s work. There is more but as the wise man said inter alia: “There is a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking”.
@ Female Dawg @ Brown. Well chosen names! but you are not worth a response!
neil watchman
would like to hear more…
glad that things moving
@ Neil Watchman
Tell us more. We would love to hear from you about these new developments. We have heard rumors about a certain Walthrust-Jones plagiarizing a BCC staff member’s work but nothing substantive. Maybe you have additional information to offer?
Those of you who are familiar with psychology might be interested to know that Walthrust manifests all the symptoms of a sociopath. Research sociopathic behaviour.
heard that BCC staff on strike…..whats new on the walrus neil watchman?
I have been told by a past student that when he and others were being interviewed by tutors about what subjects they wanted to do, the lawyer Bourne practically forced them to do politics along with law. The guy told me that she used every excuse in the book to try to get him to pair law with politics. he says he now understands why since bourne is walrus’s best mate and ally in nastiness!!! needless to say, he didnt stay long in the politics class since he said that he aint gun be in na class wid na mad woman!!!
It was posted in the news yesterday BCC teachers have not been paid because of late transfer of funds. Let us see how the NUPW supports this group.
When one reads what FRANK ALLEYNE says about people getting degrees for decorations and match this with what FREUNDEL STUART said about the political class, it is clear that these two persons are SNOBS. Therefore when you examine the opposition to getting more people into University by the DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY, a conclusion is clear that the DEMS have abandoned the ERROL BARROW ideals. FREUNDEL wants to take us back to the fields , might be Marijuana fields this time’ because sugar is gone.
FRANK ALLEYNE having taught at University believes that less persons should be at UWI because he prefers an elite class so he is using a divide and rule strategy. It is clear therefore that this government in power does not have the interest of the masses at heart, that this Government is snobbish and hates black people, wished that they themselves were white because everything they have done is against black people and messing with Education, the means by which black people can gain a foothold and continue to strive have convinced us all that the DLP must GO !!!
BEFORE THEY ANNIHILATE BARBADOS
BECAUSE THEY ‘HATE’ BARBADOS AND BLACK BARBADIANS
stups at “Codename…”
the DLP hates Black barbadians??? what a load of rubbish!!!!!!!!!!
The fact is:
For the past 8-10 years, people have been going to UWI. People who do not belong there because they cannot construct a proper sentence (not because they are black).
IT is this stupid stupid mentality proposed by ‘codename…” that has this country in trouble!!!
Should the objective of UWI be to ‘help poor black people?”
when all these people go to UWI and get substandard degrees (passing with D grades – 40 marks by the way) they think they have to be provided with government jobs that are non existent.
This B and D thing is killing us.
When you walk through the college, you can sense that the teachers have little or no respect for their leader. This has come due to the fact that the Principal takes the side of the students instead of respecting those of the teachers.
I may not agree with how Walthrust Jones treats her students which I have had a taste of but she gets through with what she does because unlike what we may say/think, she do follow the rules set out.
Any student that has ever been taught by Walthrust and have gone to the principal can note that not only does he seem fed up with her but seems to know that once she sends you that she isn’t wrong.
On an other note, I have seen him in action dealing with matters and all I can say is that he may be holding on to this job for the benefits. He has no passion for the job anymore which can be sensed by all. He does not know how to speak with authority nor does he act as if he is the Principal. He maybe good for speeches but he is not one of those types who can handle the management of a college at this time.
I may not be a chairman, a Minister or a HR Manager but the only persons that I see right now that can run the college is Mr. Arthur, the Registrar or Mr. Lascaras, Business/Management Tutor. These men know about how to be leaders and how to run an organization.
We as a people cant just put anyone in leadership positions, we can see bad leadership at the Central Bank and in many other boards who have been washed down with party supports.
In my honest opinion I would think twice before putting Mr. Best back there when they are talented staff members who can take up the mantle.
As Mr. Oyniche taught me, “Poor management doesn’t start from the bottom but from the top”.
im still wondering what is the deal with walthrust? I heard that she has been been rabidly plagiarising another staff member’s work!!!!
These comments by Remedy make no sense to me!! Remedy states:
“I may not agree with how Walthrust Jones treats her students which I have had a taste of but she gets through with what she does because unlike what we may say/think, she do follow the rules set out.
Any student that has ever been taught by Walthrust and have gone to the principal can note that not only does he seem fed up with her but seems to know that once she sends you that she isn’t wrong”.
WALRUS never follows rules!!! in fact she makes up her own rules including creating course outlines plagiarised from sites across the internet.Her course outlines make no sense and are badly written, containing grammatical errors and ambiguous statements. Readers can check the other thread on BCC to see an example of such a course outline..
Mr Neil Watchman where have you disappeared?? I want to know if walrus is still going to be at BCC in the new semester despite her nasty record and now her plagiarism of a staff member’s work.
You all get on this page and talk foolishness that has no basis, one reason being that most of these statements are slanderous. Selina, you are nothing but a fool in all regards being that in her handbooks and course outlines she makes it very clear that she has sourced information by stating compiled by not written by. Go look in a dictionary.
Secondly, you all feel that for all these years she has been at a school serving under more than 3 different Board Of Managements, over 2 different Ministers and 2 different parties that she hasn’t been doing something right. You people get and talk because talking is easy when you are online but many of you will not do nothing else.
I have sat in Walthrust Jones’s classes and I can truly say she does go by the rules but the way she executes the rules is seen as less than desirable by some. Persons around the college are offended by her because of her mannerisms and how she speaks to people when she feels offended by them but no teacher or student can truly say that Walthrust Jones does break any schools rules.
And to you Selina, if she makes grammatical errors and ambiguous statements just ask her to clarify. Teachers all over the world do make mistakes. Don’t you think she being a college and university tutor that she isn’t over worked sometimes. People like you are good for nothing but scandalizing people professional name.
Badmind is an evil business and stupidity does make yah end up in court
@Remedy
So the Walthrust gets a free pass from you?
remedy
you have just proven how stupid you and your crony walthrust jones are
yes of course: I totally agree with you: “badmind is an evil business and stupidity does make yah end up in court.”
WALTRUST’S STUPIDITY HAS IN HER IN BIG BIG TROUBLE
maybe you need to ask her
its clear that you are one of her lackeys…the ones that do her bidding and take messages back to her
point is remedy: day does run till night ketch it and walthrust’s night has arrived.
Remedy:
one more thing:
you say that if she makes grammatical errors ask her to clarify???????????????
IN WHICH UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD DOES A LECTURER MAKE GRAMMATICAL ERRORS AND THEN THE STUDENT ASKS HIM/HER TO CLARIFY???
you are either one of her lesbian cronies, her students who gets an A for sucking up, or who has doNE so in the past
I see that stupidity continues to show its ugly face again – @Selina.
@David, I would not say that she gets a full free pass from me. When I first met her I said she was one of the most stuck up persons you can ever meet…..I still feel so today but her attitude is balanced by the way in which see tries to uphold rules may them be ones that she likes or not.
I can tell you that she doesnt put up with rude or stuck up persons especially students who may feel that their are more woman or man than her in her class. She follows the rules but she expresses discomfort when persons who should know better seem to go against standard morals and ethics. So to answer your question david, I would put her on probation for now until real evidence of this “pork barrel controversy” can be established.
@Selina, I dont give a cat’s ass if you feel that I am a lackey, the fact that you are so against her only makes me understand what type of person you are. I feel you are a disgruntle ex student who failed her course or was put in her/his place and feel that by bad talking her now that it would make you feel good.
The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them and I believe my time with you Selina is up.
“Often those that criticize others reveal what he himself lacks” – S. Alder
remedy
your english is just as bad as hers hee heeeee
btw remedy
I was NEVER a student at BCC!!!
If you are, or have been, I can see why people say such awful things about BCC!!!
I KNOW that the Walrus’ Government and Politics class is made up of poor rated ‘students’ who cant fit into any other classes across the BCC or anywhere else in Barbados for that matter!!!!!
The mad maniac masquerading as an ‘academic’, with the aid of her friend Latecia Bourne, recruits a whole class full of ghetto working class kids who are then manipulated into hers and Bourne’s nasty sick psychological game.
Niel Watchman..where are you?