Rasbert Turner and Petrina Francis, Gleaner WritersDISGRUNTLED TEACHERS at the Junior High section of the Braeton Primary and Junior High School boycotted classes for the third day running yesterday, demanding that the acting principal suspend a group of students who were involved in a fight.
When a Gleaner news team visited the school yesterday, the teachers were seen in the staff room, refusing to go to classes.
"We are not going back to classes until the boys are removed," one teacher told The Gleaner.
ARMED GANG INVADED
COMPOUND
The teachers have been protesting since Wednesday. The protest stems from an alleged incident involving an armed gang of boys who invaded the school compound at the behest of another boy who wanted to settle a score with a rival student at the school. The teachers claim that the principal has failed to take the appropriate action to suspend the individuals involved in the incident.
TEACHERS FLED STAFF ROOM
"There were some boys ... that got into a fight at the school. The fight spilled over into the staff room and the teachers had to run out of the room," teacher Jillian Walker-Morris said.
Mrs. Walker-Morris said that one of the grade nine boys who was involved in the altercation upped the stakes in the battle.
According to the teacher, he left the school compound and returned minutes later with his older knife-wielding male cronies from the Braeton area. This invasion resulted in chaos in the school, and teachers as well as students, were forced to flee in fear.
A report was made to the acting principal who then failed to take what the teachers dub "appropriate action".
The teachers say a meeting was held with parents yesterday and they all agreed that the boys should be suspended.
When our news team contacted the acting principal, she declined to comment.
The matter is now being investigated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture.
