Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
TWO OF the three girls at the centre of a spitting controversy at Immaculate Conception High School will not be re-admitted after the summer break, school officials have announced.
The decision, they say, was arrived at following a meeting with the Jamaica Teachers' Association, the school board and other stakeholders in education.
"The girls will be leaving the school at the end of this school term," Paul Bitter, chairman of the school board, told parents at the school's Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meeting on Wednesday.
He told the more than 300 parents in attendance that in the best interest of the stakeholders, a consensus was arrived at that the "two other girls must seek alternative source of education".
APPLAUSE
His announcement was followed by thunderous applause from emotional parents who all seemed happy with the decision.
All three girls were suspended for 10 days last month after they had conspired and spat in the water bottle of a teacher. One of the girls voluntarily withdrew from the school. During class, one of the girls distracted the teacher while one of the conspirators spat in the bottle. The next girl shook the bottle so as to disguise the saliva. The teacher drank the water to the amusement of the plotters.
School officials were alerted about the incident two days later by the parents of a student who witnessed the entire episode. The board met and decided to suspend the girls. The decision however did not go over well with teachers, many of whom felt that the action of the students warranted immediate expulsion.
