A State of Emptiness in the Corridors of the Montserrat Secondary School (MSS)

The method of management of the one secondary school on Montserrat is calling for corrective attention. A state of emptiness immerses its corridors of direction and darkens its pathways.

The irony is that overarching decision makers have been ignoring their own awareness. The Ministry of Education officials have taken an apparent hands-off approach and devolve management to school officials largely; an unhealthy approach given the rotting climate that pervades instructional learning there.

Management of personnel at an academic institution is less about the training of management or even about the experience on the job. It is centered on the personal traits and native abilities of the individual charged with managing the school’s faculty, staff and its children, the ultimate recipients of the shape and the vision set by educational authorities.

We are wasting resources in a whirlpool of ignorance that passes for management. We are destroying the ‘germ’ in our children in callous ways. We are ignoring their centrality and place in the evolution of a society.

The handling of recent incidences involving staff relations with students is just symptomatic of a morass of discernible bias, prejudice and favouritism in the workplace. How they are managed is a crucial factor in evaluating management.

Take Alvin Martin, a humble, dedicated, effective, amazingly versatile and inoffensive teacher who is still away from his woodwork class for over a year, in a web of confusion that began with a vicious, ‘gonna get you’ attitude.

The speedy delight and enthusiasm that propelled management to rob aspiring students of woodwork science is one for the ages. A simple and innocuous incident triggers a mountainous issue. With no discussion with management Mr. Martin, was charged and arrested by the Police with assault that drew no complaint from either child or parent and left to languish on half salary in an unbelievable court matter. The reported joyful ‘I have Mr. Martin now’ comment by a credible witness (student) at the start of an inconsequential incident in Martin’s workshop, rests painfully on the minds of justice prone individuals. In this and other noted similarities, the students’ welfare which is the focus of true teachers is left to sour without due care.

No one has raised a finger to air his plight; this teacher, with experience in far flung places of the world, with superlative exam grades by his students, remains dormant, divorced from his charges, with missing opportunities. It is a repetitive tragedy. It must not continue.

Certain staff members are suck-uppers, untrustworthy and insecure in themselves and their ambitions. They ‘carry news’, manipulate and thus ride as movers and shakers in the spectrum of management. They enjoy first amongst equals status and given elevated recognition as ‘go to’ advisors; pardoned and sanitized, even in the face of their long standing reputation for physical and verbal abuse of children.

A former law enforcement officer with unenviable records in relating to citizens, terrorizes staff and children, using the same old practice of persecution. So powerful is he that suspension, the usual tactic of discipline is long and guaranteed once he ‘barks’ at children.

Like attracts like as others emerge to edge into the mix, selling themselves as cutting edge, mind bending experts of children in counseling. Heavily favored, always in self-preservation, they say much to say nothing.

So management gets sucked into the atmosphere it allows. The scene descends into chaos, which perpetuates itself. Dramatic demoralization ensues into a shameless charade of pretense and inertia. Immunity is guaranteed to no one in that setting.

The Montserrat Secondary School in effect experiences a vacuum in leadership, not geared to excellence for sure. So a ruling oligarchy of table waste collectors, situate themselves around the throne of a principal, who is waiting for direction from various surrogates, visible and invisible.

We expect principles to guide principals who in turn sell principles as the cornerstone for personal growth and development. That is the first principle that must be inculcated.

How does one apply corrective action in this sordid atmosphere where the lives of the future citizens of this cherished island are being impoverished by characters, absent of relevant management instincts?

We must understand that leadership cannot exist in the presence of the unwholesome, just as integrity cannot exist in an atmosphere of deceit and corruption. Value can only emerge from itself, just as life gives rise to life with uncanny certainty.

The tight link between the broad and vacuous leadership of this island and the steady decline in management standards at the secondary school is not imagined or supposed. It is real. We have a crisis of leadership at multiple levels on this island. As a result we bungle most transactions of worth. We love it so. We safe. DFID’s pockets are deep.

The Universe is however alive to the ways of wickedness. So cloaking the body in the clothing of a priestess on Sundays, whilst displaying forms of godliness in a pulpit, cannot ever erase devious acts that even children, new to school setting, recognize and condemn in their daily existence. Sermons ought to be lived before they are preached!

However Jumbie (Zombie) knows too well who to ramp with in the dead of night!

Editor's Note: Claude Gerald is a social activist on Montserrat. Find him on ceegee15@hotmail.com

The views reflected in this article do not reflect those of the Management and Editorial Directors here at MNI Media. The views are those of the author only.