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Ministry of Education and Madness Initiates Transfers

The blogmaster has received a few messages regarding the sudden decision by the Ministry of Education to transfer Principals from some schools. Here is one that captures key concerns arising from the abrupt change. – David, blogmaster Once again the Ministry of Education and Madness will send schools into confusion with the abrupt, last minute,…

The blogmaster has received a few messages regarding the sudden decision by the Ministry of Education to transfer Principals from some schools. Here is one that captures key concerns arising from the abrupt change. – David, blogmaster

Once again the Ministry of Education and Madness will send schools into confusion with the abrupt, last minute, poorly thought out shifting of plenty Principals and Deputies at the start of the most difficult school term in modern history and after the ad hoc remote emergency whatever they called it last term- See Nation Newspaper Article.

Word has it that Principals of Frederick Smith, Lester Vaughn, Darryl Jordan, Alexandra and Deighton Griffith have been instructed to move on, even though they prefer to stay for now because of the stress and headaches they went through to get their own schools up and running. Word also has it that plenty Deputies are being moved and in at least two cases BOTH the Principal AND Deputy at the same school has been shifted. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Admittedly some of these schools have had their recent share of trouble, but, others appear to have been doing reasonably well with their current leaders.

Common sense questions have to be asked.

  1. If a principal or teacher isn’t performing why ignore the problem or transfer it somewhere else? Wouldn’t it make more sense to deal with the problem?
  2. Does it really make sense to move a school leader at the last minute in the dying hours in the middle of a crisis response?
  3. How the hell can any one properly assume control of a school, in these “uncertain times” when they are completely IGNORANT of the place where they are being sent?
  4. If Principals are the “problem,” what about others in the system from TOP to BOT-TOM who are also “problems?” Will they just stay put and continue to humbug the place?
  5. Did anyone even bother to talk to parents and students to see how THEY feel about this???
  6. Who’s really making these confusing, chaotic and random decisions in the Ministry? Who??

By the way- is there any truth to reports that there have already been resignations by some members of Board of Managements in protest with more to come this week??? And is it true that some of these moves have nothing to do with the schools but everything to do with “hearsay, agendas and multi-coloured shadows?”

If this is what educational leadership and reform looks like then God help us and our children.

74 responses to “Ministry of Education and Madness Initiates Transfers”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Obviously Chapman is echos the position of the public health department.

    >

  2. John Avatar
    John

    COVID is over, life goes on!!

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Parents against transfer of principals

    by Sheria Brathwaite
    sheriabrathwaite@nationnews.com
    Parents at two secondary are protesting the moving of the principals in a recent reassignments of school heads.
    Although it is unclear where they will go, the Weekend Nation understands that the principal at Deighton Griffith Secondary, Anthony Alleyne, and the principal at Frederick Smith Secondary, Major Michael Boyce, have been reassigned.
    A petition is being circulated to get those associated with Deighton Griffith to sign in support of keeping the principal, while the parents of children attending Frederick Smith are planning to stage a demonstration today outside the school. President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Pedro Shepherd, has signed the petition and said he was confused by the move since principals and teaching staff had started implementing COVID-19 protocols and measures unique to each learning institution.
    No sense
    “I don’t understand the move; it makes no sense to me. Yes, we would have transfers before but we are in uncharted waters at the moment.
    “You have been meeting with principals, teachers and other stakeholders during the summer vacation, asking them to plan for the reopening of school and so on.
    “How could you put them through all of that, knowing full well that you had at the back of your mind that you are going to move them? So that is discussions and negotiations in bad faith in my view.”
    When asked about shifts, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw referred the question to Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson.
    However, she said the movement of principals was nothing new.
    “There is nothing new about the movement of principals at the beginning of the school term. If anything, perhaps we need to do it a bit earlier moving forward. But principals are accustomed to movement and no principal is expected to remain at an institution indefinitely; that is part of the profession,” she said.
    Competent group
    “I am confident that wherever our principals are transferred to, or acting principals, (or) our teachers have to go, they are a competent group of individuals that would be able to hit the ground running,” Bradshaw said after a meeting with parents at the Wildey Gymnasium to discuss the new changes slated for the start of school.
    Adamson, who was also at the event, declined to comment.
    When Shepherd signed the petition he posted on social media: “I am also signing because it is wrong since there is an agreement in place over a decade now which requires the ministry to give notice of a term (three months) to principals and six weeks to teachers who did not request transfers or who have to be transferred to effect another in cases of emergencies.”
    He told the Weekend Nation the ministry should tell Barbadians the rationale behind the shifts.
    The petition at last count had 2 500 signatures. One parent involved in organising it said the transfer should take place later.
    “During this pandemic the children and parents were able to stay on top of things because of Mr Alleyne. He kept us well informed and up to date about everything. He also has a good rapport with the children and in these uncertain times, the children need to return to an environment of trust and stability.
    “I know that the ministry has the right to do these things but we would appreciate if it was done later in the term and not at the start of school,” she said.
    Parents of Frederick Smith students are also appealing for a similar arrangement. One parent said that they were only told about the transfer last night on a Zoom conference. He said it was important for the parents to take swift action that could possibly effect change.

    Source: Nation News

  4. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    Just asking for a friend…..

    Does the Minister realise the issue isn’t the transfers but the timing and the environment under which it is being done???
    Does the Minister truly believe that transferring Principals (responsible for operations) one week before school is just like transferring Ministers (responsible for policy)?
    Should general and senior civil servants sit sipping tea patiently waiting and expecting to be moved at anytime a Minister or a Chief feels like??
    Shouldn’t stakeholders be taken into confidence about these decisions?
    Isn’t consultation critical anymore?
    Where are the comments from the technocrats on these and other pressing issues?
    Are schools really ready for Monday?

    Uh gone!!!!

  5. David Avatar
    David

    @ Observing

    The minister one has to assume is being advised by the Chief Education Officer.

    >

  6. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Observing,

    Apparently she does not understand that it is the timing and nothing more.

  7. TheoGazerts Avatar
    TheoGazerts

    When an issue like the above is under discussion, just assume a worst case scenario and everything becomes an empty mouthing.

    God forbid, but what if the principal died? We move on.

    Reductio ad absurdum.

    Many who were indispensable had their chairs filled the day after they exited.

  8. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Succession planning.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    The issue here is timing of the transfers to minimize disruption especially at a time disruption has become routine because of COVID-19.

  10. TheoGazerts Avatar
    TheoGazerts

    As I see it …
    Having said that. We can discuss the politics as much as we want.

    Some companies have success planning where if there is a mishap, players are easily replaced.

    It should be easy to move a good principal without disrupting the school.

    Those who are irreplaceable should be replaced.

    That is why we are in this position… Going downhill with giants in key places.

    You decide ‘sheer ignorance’ or a ‘brutish and harsh reality’.

    Enjoy the day.

  11. TheoGazerts Avatar
    TheoGazerts

    The transfer of principals appears to be an issue in the presence/absence of COVID-xx

    Too many big ideas. Too many small independent fiefdoms.

    Perhaps the MOE need to figure out how to ‘standardize’ most of the tasks performed by principals.

  12. TheoGazerts Avatar
    TheoGazerts

    “Every country has the government it deserves.”

    Greene asked ‘Are we in a recurring loop?’ If only this was true.

    We are spiraling towards our death. I used to say ‘not failed, but failing’. We are almost past the point of no return. Not failed but failure is almost inescapable.

  13. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Really. Nobody is saying that anyone is irreplaceable. What we are saying is that too much is already uncertain. Too much has changed. Too much change at once is stressful. These are children we are dealing with.

    Now the students at Deighton Griffith started an online petition to keep their principal. He is a man who manages to maintain discipline without overuse of the strap. He reasons with his students and they respect him. Imagine a new principal for whom the strap is the first instrument of correction.

    That is stress. These times are already too stressful.

    And just because people have to adjust when somebody dies does not mean one should deliberately cause them to experience it.

    Next term would have been better.

  14. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    @Donna
    As n the past so is today. We are in agreement.

    @Theo
    A death is an unexpected, unplanned and emergency case.
    The Ministry had months to plan how they would deal with this.
    The confusion and end result really isn’t good enough.

    Just observing

  15. David Avatar
    David

    ILL-TIMED!
    Parents protest shifting of Frederick Smith principal
    By Rachelle Agard rachelleagard@nationnews.com
    A group of protesting parents at Frederick Smith Secondary School want some answers on why principal Major Michael Boyce will no longer be in charge come Monday.
    But Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw has reiterated that no principal is entitled to remain at any one school, and expects them to rise to the occasion at their new school as handovers had already begun.
    Spokesperson for the protesters, Anthony Cummins, said yesterday that Boyce made the announcement during an online meeting with parents on Thursday, which immediately brought an outburst from both parents and students. He added the principal did not say where he was going.
    Children in tears
    “During that time, there were a number of children that cried when they heard that the principal would no longer be at the school. We the parents felt it was a bit too much for such a change in such a short space of time, knowing that Frederick Smith has just gone through a number of challenges,” he said outside the gates of the Trents, St James school.
    Cummins, a principal psychologist at the Centre of Solutions and Influence, said the school was just recovering from the fatal stabbing of one of its own last year and the subsequent incarceration of another student. On top of that, he said the COVID-19 pandemic and all the protocols would cause an additional burden.
    “We definitely don’t agree with it. The question is, what kind of message has the Ministry of Education sent to the public at large? Major Boyce has brought this school within the last three to four years to a position that we are satisfied with, and we think there is no way he should be moved at this time. We think the methodology is wrong,” he contended.
    Strong message
    Cummins added that if their voices were not heard, they were prepared to stage another protest on Monday “to ensure that we send a strong message to the public and the Ministry of Education that you just can’t do business like this”.
    Another protester, Margo Lawrence, said her grandson, who was about to enter second form, had lost his mother while in primary school and his father had a stroke and was unable to work.
    “Since he got here he has settled.
    Yesterday in the meeting and he heard he would not see his principal, that child wailed, he hollered, he cried. He said, ‘No, Granny. Wherever Major Boyce is going, see if you can get me a transfer there, please’. We have to realise it is not only the parents, but it is going to be very traumatic on the children who have come to love their principal,” she said.
    However, Bradshaw said there should be no issue at this time, but people were free to voice their concerns.
    “Principals are not assigned to a school, and I think
    as they enter the profession, they understand the assignments are fluid. There are some schools that require some specialist teachers in a particular area as they do some particular types of leadership. I believe through the Chief Education Officer, that it can’t be business as usual. We have to be able to match skill sets with particular institutions and particular children to be able to get the best out of education in this country,” she said.
    Efforts to reach Boyce were unsuccessful.
    President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Pedro Shepherd, said such matters were only adding to the confusion on the eve of schools reopening.
    Speaking at a Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) press conference yesterday, he said: “I know we have some challenges, particularly at the secondary schools. We have some pending transfers. We’re not sure what is happening there really. We were told that some persons were offered transfer letters and they were rescinded. We have some uncertainty at the secondary level in terms of the leadership at those schools.”
    Shepherd, who is also first vicepresident of CTUSAB, said during the summer break principals and management teams had been asked to have schools ready for the reopening.
    “Now you’re putting persons,
    in my view, on the battlefield without any armour for the first time in a COVID environment, which is a new environment and it must be a challenge. If it is a challenge at your old school, I can imagine what it would be when you go to see teachers, students and parents [at another] amidst the confusion,” he said.

    Source: Nation

  16. David Avatar
    David

    Santia won’t be tolerating shoddy work
    Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw will not be tolerating shoddy work within her ministry and will be holding accountable anyone who does not pull their weight.
    During a tour of St Joseph Primary School in Horse Hill yesterday, the minister pinpointed the Education Technical Management Unit, saying she was calling “a spade a spade” and would “do what I have to do”.
    “We’ve had some challenges in repairing schools [for the domestic summer programme], primarily with our scope of work. I am not pleased and I must say that we’ve had some major challenges with the Unit and its building maintenance officers in relation to providing the scope of work to be able to allow contractors to know precisely what they are supposed to do. That is something, going forward, we are going to have to rectify as a matter of urgency.
    “It cannot be that people have been visiting schools, problems are being identified and yet we repeatedly find ourselves in the situation where, as the schools reopen, we hear all these issues that the ministry, and the minister, for certain, was not aware of,” she said.
    Bradshaw said she could understand if people needed further training, but if they were not doing their jobs or just not turning up for work, the ministry could not afford to turn a blind eye.
    “I have started the process of documenting where I believe officers have not been pulling their weight. We too often in our society see the problem in front of us and do nothing, but I believe as the leader of this ministry, I must call a spade a spade,” Bradshaw said, adding she had instructed the permanent secretary to do the same.
    The minister said they had been bolstered by the work of private contractors who had done in a week what the ministry staff had not been able to accomplish under her tenure.
    She said continued lacklustre attitudes had to come to an end, and encouraged parents to write the ministry instead of complaining online.
    Unit director Francisco Miller said they are under-staffed and underfunded but admitted there had been some issues with his officers which would be “dealt with”.
    As for the school, it has undergone extensive work and new principal Everton Briggs said he was confident the reopening on Monday would go smoothly. ( CA)

    Source: Nation

  17. Willie Avatar
    Willie

    Perhaps someone could gently inform Minister Bradshaw that usage of calling a spade a spade is considered a racial slur in some quarters.

  18. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @Willie
    You cannot lift everything from the USA and just apply it to Barbados.

  19. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Someone needs to explain to me what the principal does. I am getting the impression he teaches every class and child.

    I don’t get it.

    If my child was crying because a principal is leaving then I would be a bit concerned. A teacher, I may be able to understand.

    Forgive me folks. I don’t get it.

  20. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    https://work.chron.com/duties-responsibilities-school-principals-7885.html#:~:text=The%20role%20of%20a%20principal,evaluate%20staff%20and%20oversee%20facilities.

  21. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    You don’t get it but I was able to tell you almost word for word what would have been said without hearing or reading any of it.

    Elsie Payne was beloved by Q.C. girls. I loved her long before she taught me history for one year. Q.C. would not have been Q.C. without her for me. I would have cried if she left. She was firm, fair and sooooo calm. That calmness had a special effect on you. Once a teacher sent me to her office for something I hadn’t done. I was in floods of tears because I had never been in trouble before. It hadn’t been necessary.

    “Have a seat, child!” she said calmly with no hint of accusation in her voice or face. ” Now… what happened?”

    She let me tell the whole story without interrupting even once.

    “Child, go on back to your class!”
    Blessed relief! If she had tried to punish me for something I hadn’t done I probably would have said something to double the punishment. But…she recognised truth when she heard it. I was safe.

    When next I was sent to her she said exactly the same words. Again she recognized the truth when she heard it.

    That was rare in my experience – and priceless to a child whose mother never could recognise it and who was always accusing her of nonsense she never dreamed of doing and never could be convinced otherwise.

    Children usually love good principals. We loved ours so much we called her Elsie behind her back rather than Mrs. Payne. She would have known we meant no disrespect.

    This is a stressful time for all students of all schools. Even more so for Federick Smith students. The students at that school are still recovering from the trauma of one student killing another in front of their very eyes. That principal has brought them through to this point. It is madness to move him.

    If you still don’t get it you should not let anybody know because it means you have something missing from somewhere. Just like the officials at the MOE.

    But… at least you are not being paid for your deficiency!

  22. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    😀
    Perhaps you are right about the deficiency.

    I have seen some express admiration and love for a headmaster/principal that I thought was a nasty piece of work.

  23. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    They are the ones who equate discipline with the rod they took from the Bible. I never had that problem. I prefer reason.

    I can guarantee you that today’s children don’t love the pieces of work. Deighton Griffith students are not fighting to keep a piece of work. Mr. Alleyne is more like Elsie – firm, fair and sooo calm.

  24. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    @Theo
    If my child was crying because a principal is leaving then I would be a bit concerned

    Then you would never understand the power of good leadership, or the damage of poor timing.

    Just observing

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