Students claim teacher showed them porn; PTA expresses dismay

THE MOTHER OF one of the students allegedly exposed to pornographic content at the Union Island Secondary School does not believe that the teacher concerned should still be able to teach and have any interaction with students.

The concerned mother told SEARCHLIGHT that the incident occurred before the Christmas holiday, during school time.

She said that her child told her that the teacher was looking at a pornographic movie on his phone in class and students saw the video, but instead of putting it away, he allowed the students to watch it too.

“My view is that he shouldn’t be teaching because the children would not respect him. You can’t be a teacher. Nobody respects you at all because of the kinds of things that you’re getting on with, do you understand? So I don’t think he should be there,” she said.

“He totally should not have done that. Even though they are young adults, they are also students and you are a teacher. There’s a level of respect that should be between students and teachers. When you’re doing that, it’s a whole other thing. You and them are on the same level, no respect, nothing. Anything could happen there.”

The mother said that to her knowledge, not much has been done in relation to the matter as she believes that he is still at the school. She however disclosed that students involved were made to put in writing what transpired at the time of the incident.

When SEARCHLIGHT contacted Vernette Ollivierre, the principal of the secondary school, she referred us to the Ministry of Education.

Several calls were made to the ministry to speak with the deputy chief education officer, Elizabeth Walker but she was unavailable each time.

A press release from the Union Island Secondary School PTA dated January 9, 2019 said that the PTA executive is “dismayed at the lack of response and inaction by the principal of the Union Island Secondary School, the Union Island Police and the Ministry of Education with regard

to the airing of a pornographic movie in class by a young male teacher during school time”.

“Thus far evidence of witness tampering by the perpetrator and his mother who were involved in the botched investigation conducted by the Probation Officer have been gathered,” the release said.

And this matter will be on the agenda at the PTA meeting scheduled for January 14.

A public town hall meeting has also been planned for today in an effort to “keep the issue in the forefront until an appropriate resolution is arrived at in the interest and safety of our children”.