Tuesday morning (10), staff, students and parents at East End Primary School arrived at school to find that the gates to the school had been padlocked by an unknown individual, preventing access to the school facility.  The Department of Education Services and Ministry of Education were notified, and the lock was removed and access granted shortly thereafter. In addition, it was discovered that the entry to a classroom had been damaged.

There is some indication that these acts may have been intended as a protest against a current staff vacancy within the school.  At the start of the 2013-2014 academic year two members of East End Primary School received promotions. Among the promotions was the former year 5 teacher at EE Primary who was promoted to the post of Literacy Coach. This resulted in an opening in the teaching staff at EE Primary School. A well-qualified year 5 teacher was recruited and arrived in Grand Cayman prior to start of the school year. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the Department of Education Services the person appointed chose not to follow through with her professional commitment and has since left the island.

Due to this challenge the Department of Education Services and the Ministry of Education Human Resources Department have begun the recruitment process and expects to have a year 5 teacher assigned to East End Primary School in due course. In the interim the Department of Education Services provided East End Primary School with a supply teacher to ensure that students’ academic needs are met. However, in this case the Principal chose to provide coverage for the year 5 class from the existing staff, which the Principal is authorized to do under her remit for management of Human Resources within her school.

There are a small number of teacher vacancies across schools, which are either being covered by qualified supply teachers or by staff from within the school on a temporary basis while recruitment processes are being finalized. Having vacancies at the start of the school year is not desirable however, given that teachers are only required by law to give one months’ notice and overseas recruitment can take up to three months it is an unfortunate reality.

This Ministry is not naïve in thinking that challenges won’t impact and influence the work that they are engaged in. As challenges arise they are committed to responding. “For us education is a partnership that we engage in with students, parents, and members of the greater community” Minister Rivers explained. She further shared that, “It is important for us that the community is aware of the fact that we are engaged in a process of continuous evaluation and as challenges are brought to our attention we respond accordingly”. The Minister expressed her concerns regarding the choice of actions taken and states that, “We are committed to ensuring quality education for our students and we always applaud parental involvement in this process”. However, we seriously discourage members of the public from locking up schools in an effort to communicate with the education system. I as Minister as well as the Chief Officer and Chief Educational Officer and their staff are available to discuss issues of parental concern with schools, PTA’s, and parents on an individual basis if necessary. Therefore I encourage parents to use their schools PTA as a vehicle to have their concerns addressed.

The Ministry will continue to dialogue with parents to ensure they are fully informed of progress with this matter. The Department of Education Services is working with the Principal of East End Primary School to ensure that adequate instructional coverage is in place while a skilled teacher is recruited for the year 5 class.