00:00An independent investigation is planned by the Board of Holy Name Convent, Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, into
00:08the principal of the school here in Port of Spain.
00:11It is to follow the Ministry of Education as well as the Teaching Service Commission's procedures.
00:16But what are those procedures?
00:19Well, it's a question we pose the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association, Crystal Bevin-Ash.
00:26The first thing is if any aggrieved party in relation to any issue that impacts on their students, their children
00:33or anything like that in terms of a school, any teaching personnel, they are free to visit the Ministry of
00:38Education district offices.
00:41Tuta outlines that there are seven in Trinidad and one in Tobago.
00:45And what they will normally have there is a form for you to follow. So you identify yourself. So you
00:50must have named what the situation is and you identify the school.
00:55And then once you sign that, you basically agree to the Ministry of Education moving forward with inquiries and investigation.
01:03And once they have feedback, the supervisors, those are the ones who will be assigned to do the investigation.
01:09Ash indicates that the Ministry will usually update the person making the report.
01:13And if action is to be taken, it triggers another process with an initiation of Regulation 90.
01:19Regulation 90 simply says that officers, senior yourself, at this one incremental point above you, will carry out your investigation.
01:27So 99 percent of the time, it will be a school supervisor who will be carrying out the investigation and
01:32they will present those findings to the Teaching and Service Commission, who will then make a determination as to the
01:40way forward.
01:40Because Holy Name Convent is a secondary school, he explains that it will be a school supervisor theory.
01:46While the board has urged present students to use the internal reporting system to file complaints, he says if there
01:53is fair to do so, their parents can also go directly to the Ministry.
01:58Tutor plans on visiting the school to meet with stakeholders, and it says it is waiting on the investigation to
02:04take its course.
02:05It stems from hundreds of comments alleging verbal and emotional abuse by the recently appointed principal and an online petition
02:13for her removal from the post.
02:16The mechanism by which complaints have been made so far is via social media, but Tutor believes it is the
02:22wrong approach for a number of reasons.
02:25I would like to encourage all those persons who are putting things on social media in terms of whatever would
02:31have happened between you and the individual, the principal, put it in writing.
02:36Because the law of natural justice states that if it is that you have an accuser, you should be able
02:42to confront the accuser, find out who is the accuser, ask questions of the accuser, things like that.
02:47According to Tutor, unless there are very serious allegations, such as those of a sexual nature, the principal is allowed
02:53to remain on the job.
02:55Ash notes that the principal's character is at stake, saying even if found innocent, the stain can remain.
03:01But he expresses another serious concern.
03:05God forbid, let's say something bad comes out of this.
03:10It's quite possible because some persons could take the law into their own hands as well, and we wouldn't want
03:13to encourage it at all.
03:14Despite this, Ash is adding clarity to this position.
03:18We do not condone any sort of behavior that would harm our children.
03:22We want to ensure that all our children know and their parents know and their way that our schools are
03:26safe zones.
03:27Tutor says if a past student who has a grievance believes an unsafe environment continues to exist at present,
03:34they too can visit the ministry with proof of having attended the school and file a complaint.
03:40Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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