But Garbutt also launched a public offensive against the Teaching Services Commission. That’s a new body proposed principally to manage the hiring and firing of teachers in what are called grant-aided schools, meaning those schools which get a subvention from government. The proposal comes from the Ministry of Education which already pays those teachers’ salaries and now wants to give the commission sole authority to approving hiring and firings at grant aided schools. The vast majority of those grant aided schools – 116 of them - fall under Catholic School management which – at is presently stands has the sole authority to decide who will teach in their schools. And now the Ministry’s proposed is challenging that. Faber today told us he’s not taking on the Catholic Church or the church states stem he just wants better teachers in the schools.
Jules Vasquez,
But are you trying to challenge the supremacy of the church-state system where the church has the upper hand in making decisions on personnel?
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“I am not trying to challenge that supremacy. As you know I come from a system of the church-state working together very well. I am an Anglican and I worked on the Anglican Educational Board, I have worked for Anglican institutions all of my teaching career. I have come from schools that are successful under the church-state system so I value that system. So for those people who are saying that we’re trying to destroy the church-state system, that is certainly not true. And what people need to understand is that in this whole introduction of the Teaching Services Commission, it is not the Ministry of Education versus the church.
The Teaching Services Commission is not the Ministry of Education and that is where they are purposely trying to mislead. Teaching Services Commission is a different entity from the Ministry of Education. It is made up of representation from all of these bodies. So no, we are trying to destroy the churches role. The church will still have a role to play. What we’re trying to stop are those churches that insist that they will only hire wedded mothers, those churches that insist that they will not hire teachers who are clearly very much qualified but have children outside of wedlock, we’re trying to stop those people who are saying we will only hire you if you are from our church, we are trying to stop people who are saying we will only hire you if you are from political party, yes you heard me right because that is the system now in the government schools.
We are trying to say to those people who are only hiring their family members, and their friends, and their cronies that that is not supposed to be tolerated in education and you saw the trouble we got into last year when we transferred 43 teachers in Orange Walk and how the union clamoured for this Teaching Services Commission and the union, I want to say to people, is fully understanding where it is we’re going and is in full support of the Teaching Services Commission.”
Jules Vasquez,
That is my understanding of the resistance, that you are not paying enough attention to what their mission is, you are disrespecting the primacy of their mission.
Hon. Patrick Faber,
“Jules as a church going person I can say that I understand the mission of the church, not all churches but certainly the Anglican Church and their involvement in education as well. But you know what, when I sit in this office as Minister of Education I have a duty as when I was sworn in as a member of the Cabinet to uphold the constitution of this country.”
Jules Vasquez,
The entire partnership is presupposed upon the presumption that the church has moral authority, the government is essentially at best a-morale in terms that it doesn’t have the moral authority to make the sound decisions that the church management feels it can make in the interest of propagating its mission. So I am saying that you are trying to change something very essential in the nature, maybe it is outdated, maybe it’s misconceived but it is what it is. That’s what it us presupposed on, their morale authority and you’re challenging that, how can you expect them to oppose it.
Hon. Patrick Faber,
“We are not denying the church the right that they have, maybe it is not a right but what is existing now, that they can try to mould the moral value of students who attend their schools. We are not trying to challenge that whatsoever. In fact even in government schools where there is no partnership with the church there is….”
Jules Vasquez,
But how can there any morals when the teachers are living in sins and inequity?
Hon. Patrick Faber,
“Well the entire society is living in sin and inequity.”
Jules Vasquez,
No there are people who have made a choice to have multiple children from multiple partners and that is not representative.
Hon. Patrick Faber,
“And again we’re saying if that is the strong position of the church then they can feel free to have, the government will be happy to give them a license to operate but we’re saying that if you’re going to use the government’s purse in the way that it is being used now as a grant-aided school, maybe they can apply for specially aided status but certainly when we’re paying 100% of your teachers and we’re giving you tuition in the case of secondary schools in addition to the 70% then we need to abide by the constitution.”
Jules Vasquez,
Is this a problem that you have faced where school managements have protected people of their own religious sect and allowed them to perpetuate themselves or find another accommodation within the same school system and then they continue?
Hon. Patrick Faber,
“Indeed and I am glad you raised that point because that is another good function of the Teaching Services Commission and I want to take it further, it is not only sexual indiscretion on the part of teachers, there are also cases where the teachers are non-performing. There are teachers not cutting it in a classroom at all. Teachers have financial trouble where they are gamblers, they have gambling disease where they swindle students out of their monies and so on where there some instances where there teachers who have a problem with stealing, with drugs, and they are released for instance from one management and then no notification is made to the Ministry of Education and then another management, because they don’t work together, they don’t call to find out what was the problem with the previous management with this teacher hires the very same teacher because the Ministry of Education doesn’t know anything about it, the teacher is allowed to be paid from the Ministry funds, government funds and that teacher continues.
The Teaching Services Commission will capture that because the Teaching Services Commission will hire and fire so they will be the ones who determine why a management wants to get rid of a teacher. If the teacher has a problem with sexual misconduct, if the teacher has a problem with finances, if the teacher has a problem of non-performance the commission will know all of this and if that teacher is terminated and seeks employment anywhere else, it will still have to come back to the very same commission who will then say no we have blacklisted you, you can’t get a job in this system. And I know as an administrator myself, having been an administrator that there are many people in our system who escape. There are many people who released from ACC when I was vice principal who you see popping up all over the place in other institutions and then you later hear the same complaints coming from those people.”
Despite numerous attempts, we were unable to reach SJC President Frank Garbutt for comment today. Garbutt did not participate in last night’s public consultation on the commission at St. Mary’s Hall – a move that has been interpreted as a boycott.
We did speak to manager of Catholic Schools Bernaldino Pech Sr. who told us that indeed he has acted as a member of the Ministry’s working group developing the commission. But Pech stressed that the Catholic School Management has not taken a position and will only do so after consultation with all the stakeholders in Catholic education which includes the church. That position, he explained, has not been finalized at this time. The public consultations on the commission continue tonight in Dangriga tomorrow in independence and on Friday in Punta Gorda.
