As we told you, the Administration announced at the beginning of the month that they had to sign these contracts by this weekend or they would be taken off the payroll. A number of teachers felt like they were blind-sided because they were under the impression that they had security of tenure.

Well, today the UB Office of Public information issued a press release saying that these teachers are mistaken. They say that according to the UB Faculty and Staff Handbook, faculty members are employed on an annual basis and, that employment is reviewed before the teacher is given continued employment. They claim that for a number of years, this performance review process has not been rigorously applied, and they now seek to apply it across the board.

UB adds that the only faculty members who have been given "permanent" were those who were employed prior to the merger of 2000, where the Bliss School of Nursing, the Belize Teachers Training College, the Belize Technical College, the Belize College of Agriculture, and the University College of Belize became one institution.

It ends by saying that the University is adopting this rigorous review process for the betterment of the university.

Well, according to the teachers who feel pressured, they're attorney is advising them that the University is taking the wrong interpretation, and they are infringing on the rights of the faculty. We've been informed that these teachers don't intend to back down on this issue. Those who signed the contract because they were worrying about financial security for their families will write to the University saying that they only signed under duress.