Letter to Sacred Heart School Board Saba

To the members of the Sacred Heart Primary School Board, 

On behalf of parents with children attending the Sacred Heart Primary School we would like to thank you for your paid service on the School Board for the past years. However, we are very concerned about how you are managing the school and your decision-making skills especially where it concerns the staff and vision for the school. Based on the recent developments and the way other concerns from the past have been dealt with, we no longer have confidence or trust in you to execute your tasks and responsibilities.

This year has proven to be a challenging year on many accounts; challenges externally as well as internally. Though it is difficult to control challenges, the manner in how you respond towards them speaks volumes and this is the case with your actions and reactions. The aim of this letter is to address the concerns and reasons why we no longer have confidence in the school board to manage the Sacred Heart Primary School on Saba.

1.     Hiring of school personnel: As parents we question the criteria for hiring personnel. The current grade 1 went through three teachers in one academic year. One of the three teachers could not communicate adequately in the English Language. Other teachers have been hired and then are incapable of managing their classrooms. In addition to this, we understand that there are known challenges with a current upper grade teacher, yet nothing has been done to resolve this. Apparently, we now have a group of students who will be going to high school with below average levels. In both mentioned scenarios, the children are the ones who suffer. We would like to know, how do you as a school board recruit new teacher’s? What is the process for recruiting? Who advises on whether a teacher is deemed suitable to teach?  Why isn’t there a management team, composing of current teachers, who should also play a role in advising who gets hired? Do you feel that your individual expertise makes you qualified and experienced enough to make the right decisions about who should be educators at SHS?

2.     Recruiting of School Board members:Over the school year there have been changes in regard to members of the school board leaving and new members being appointed. However, there has never been a vacancy advertised to give the general public an option to apply to become a member of the school board. Thus, what is the criteria to select and/or recruit new board members? Who is involved in making the decision of who should be a member of the school board?

3.     Profile of School Board members:On most boards’ members are recruited based on what they can contribute to the board in terms of their background of expertise. School Boards should compromise of persons who are qualified and experienced in education, finance, personnel affairs etc. We would like to know if there are profiles to be a board member. 

4.     Overall (micro)management of the Board:It is widely known that two of the school board members insist on micro-managing the school rather than looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture of moving the school forward and improving the overall quality of education should at all times be the priority. The school is still lacking a proper curriculum and classroom syllabus for teachers to teach consistently rather than ad-hoc teaching. There is a lack of training for personnel to keep them motivated in their current profession. Several teachers also feel that favoritism plays a big role when the board makes decisions. There is an obvious lack of vision of education for the future and how to plan accordingly for new developments, such as e-learning during the covid-19 crisis.

5.     Dismissal of the Principal:It is widely believed that the Principal resigned because of the way she was being treated by the board. The Principal was expected to manage the school, almost fulfill the role of a fulltime teacher and carry out the work requested from both the ministry of education and your board on a daily basis. After all the years that she dedicated to the school and to our children you continued to undermine her past achievements and efforts by creating an image of her that she somehow did not deliver. We feel that the way the board treated the principal to be very disrespectful and it shows that there is little or no respect or gratitude for what she has done for the school and the sacrifices she has made for our children over the years.    

6.     Progress since anonymous article:Some months ago, there was a very elaborate article in the Daily Herald about what was happening at the SHS. To date we have seen very little action from the school board other than having a few meetings with parents which led to no results. The article speaks for itself and exposed many of the shortcomings within the organization which we feel the board is responsible for and has basically accepted as the norm for an educational institution on Saba.

In closing we would like to again make it clear that we no longer have confidence in the existing school board. Seeing that there will be a new principal starting in August we feel that this person should be given a fair opportunity to succeed and within the current governing structure this will not be possible. Please do not see this as a personal attack but more so as a plea for change so that our children can be afforded a safe learning environment which is properly managed with a capable teaching staff who has the best interests of our children at heart. 

Signed by parents of SHS students

Concerned Parents of students attending SHS    Contact the author of the petition