Next week Tuesday, September 1, primary schools all around the country will be opening up for the new school year. Faith Nazarene Primary School in San Ignacio, like other schools are doing the same, but tonight a rift between the parents and teachers on one side, and the principal on another, is widening, and threatening the stability of the school. 400-500 students stand be affected, and parents are contemplating pulling their children out and enrolling them at another school.
What's the reason for all this? Well, the teachers and parents who we have spoken to say that the Principal, Policarpia Pech, has mismanaged the school, disenfranchised the teachers, and disrespected the student population and their parents. Add to that allegations of poor decisions which have caused the school money, and it made for a tense situation where teachers and Parents of the Parent Teacher Association committed to protest this evening. But, they decided against it at the last moment, because the General Manager of the Nazarene Group of schools called them into a meeting to discuss a compromise.
The first thing that came out of that meeting is that the Management is trying to get the principal removed and replaced. Now, only the Teaching Services Commission has the authority to do that, and they have been given an extensive internal investigation conducted by the Nazarene Management.
Next, the General Manager himself will take over day-to-day management of the school by assuming the post of interim local manager. That means that he will be involved in the decision making process that the embattled principal will be making for this school year while the Teaching Services Commission makes its final ruling.
That meeting lasted for almost 2 hours and shortly after, at around 5:00 p.m., we spoke with the General Manager, and here's what had to say:
Raymond Shepherd - General Manager, Primary Schools
"We have held interviews with teachers, parents, even the principal, to get an understanding of what is really happening. after conducting all the interviews, we came to the conclusion that something is very wrong here and needs to be fixed and still in that process at this time."
Daniel Ortiz
"We understand that the fixed that the management of the school is suggesting at this time is that Ms. Policarpia is replaced a principal. Can you disclosed if that is the position?"
Raymond Shepherd - General Manager, Primary Schools
"That is the position of the management, that we feel that we need to change course. We need a new direction and in order to go in a new direction, we need a new person to steer the ship and yes, its not secret that in fact we have made it very clear to all the parties concerned that we need a change in administration and it is our wish that we will get that sooner rather than later."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir we have to ask you about a few of those complaints we've had. We understand the first is that the principal may not have followed the rules, the same rules you speak of. She did not follow the rules in terminating a particular teacher and that she further compounded that illegality by hiring a teacher without following the same rules of getting the Teaching Services Commission involved and that costs the school thousands of dollars in trying to resolved that to pay that illegally hired teacher and to retain the services of the teacher which was illegally fired. Can you confirmed that this happened?"
Raymond Shepherd
"I do not want to get into the specifics, but I will say that in fact there has been a number of violations and those violations have been clearly spelt out in a letter which we have written and copied to the present principal. So she know what those are. The Services Commission and the Ministry knows exactly what goes on as well. So we will leave it at that."
Daniel Ortiz
"Would you agree that if the management did not make the interventions that it made, there would have been an irreparable rift which could have affected this coming school year?"
Raymond Shepherd
"Certainly. It's at that point right now where the damage is almost irreparable and hence there has to be intervention and hence the decision which we have made to intervene. It's absolutely necessary. We as management, we the owners of this institution will not allow any single individual or any entity to damage what we built."
We also spoke with at few of the teachers and parents who attended the meeting, and here's why they are adamant that the principal must step down:
Tamara Guerra Ochoa - Concerned Parent
"Teachers also are not feeling satisfied already working the school because they have been abused also emotionally and even we have not have a good PTA communication. It's not been working because of the things that she is doing."
Daniel Ortiz
"What would you like to see? Is the unanimous call or the overall voice, a call for her removal?"
Tamara Guerra Ochoa
"Yes, I believe many parents are calling for her removal."
Maria Ruiz - Teacher
"Because of her attitude, teachers cannot no longer work with her and the teachers are really have gotten enough I must say and we want her to step down and she is refusing to do that. We teachers are being victims. We are being victimize by her. We have been targeted by her. We have been discriminated by her and I think that's enough."
Joan Pineda - Teacher
"We have had instances where we are being treated as children. We cannot interact with others, with parents, with our peers, referring to teachers like ourselves. Whenever we have young members of staff that comes to our school, they are being told by the principal not to affiliate with us the senior teachers."
Blanca Aguirre - Concerned Parent
"We are tired of this. We know that teachers are not happy. We know that parents are not happy, but we can't do anything else. I have 5 kids and all of them came to this school and we have never had a situation like this. It's very molesting and we need to have a change."
Daniel Ortiz
"Are you one of those parents who was considering removing your child and putting that child at a different school?"
Aide Hope - Concerned Parent
"Oh yes I do and I still have in mind if this situation doesn't get fixed."
This evening, we contacted Principal Policarpia Pech via telephone, and asked her for a comment. She declined saying that she has gotten in touch with her lawyer who she's directed to take control of her defense.
So, that's where it is at this point, the teachers and parents want the principal removed. The Nazarene Primary School Managers agree and they have forwarded their written recommendations to the Teaching Services Commission, which has not made a final decision as yet. The current principal remains in place, but she will not be reporting to work until a week or so later because she submitted a sick leave form. Indications are that she will fight to vindicate her name.
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