Teachers at the Preston Albury High School on the island of Eleuthera staged a protest this week demanding change amongst other things as the school faces a teacher shortage and student disciplinary issues.
President of the Bahamas Union of Teachers, Belinda Wilson expressed her support for the protesting teachers. “It is said that two teachers have been identified to come to Preston Albury High School however our further investigation revealed that the teachers do not have anywhere to live, they’ve not yet secured accommodations for them to live. So they’ve been advised not to leave the comfort of their homes to travel to Eleuthera for uncertainty. There are teachers who are home waiting to be hired from 2022 and a few of them from 2021. Education must address these concerns forthwith.”
Acting Director of Education, Dominique Russell responded to the protest saying, “as it relates to the teacher shortage there, we would have had two teachers redeployed from that school and so we have two to replace them. We’re just waiting on their geographical allowance and so those teachers will go to that school. As it relates to the discipline issues, we’ve asked the district superintendent to meet with all of the stakeholders, the same thing that we did at another school that was struggling with student discipline issues. When the stakeholders get together they can come up with ways to mitigate, for example, at one school social services said that they would provide parenting classes, the school would beef up extra curricular activities, pastors would provide anger management counselling.”
