I heard on the news over the weekend that the Education Commissioner is up in arms because she just found out that St. Croix teachers have not yet been paid for work done over the summer in two of its very beneficial programs.
While it is alarming to me that the Education Department acknowledged the reports and that Commissioner Donna Frett-Gregory said that the teachers not being paid is unacceptable, what I want to know is who is running the department and is there not a proper grievance process in place for teachers to report things like this to the department’s powers that be so that they could be rectified before the public humiliation and the blame game and pointing fingers begin?
The very able commissioner said that most of the teachers will be paid by the next pay period and continued by saying that she is sincerely disappointment over this situation.
It leads me to believe that in these guava crop times, when people on every level are struggling, our teachers sat back and relaxed while their money sat in the government’s coffers and did nothing. They used the government’s account as a Christmas Savings Club of sorts and now that the holidays are upon us, they are trying to have their situation addressed expeditiously so they could have money in hand to handle their holiday expenses.
What is even more telling is the fact that it took a release from our Senator Kenny Gittens – who just happens to be appalled about every situation – to bring this one to light.
We must do better. We must begin to be more proactive in handling our business and not turn everything into a media opportunity to embarrass our officials, because there are times when that embarrassment turns right back around and shines the unwanted spotlight on us.
Must every one of our issues be played out in the media? Aint nobody got time for that.
Especially in this political season, we are seeing senators and hopefuls trying everything that they can to be in the spotlight, they are probably just a few steps short of selling more than the ladies working in some of the red-light district establishments across the territory.
Gregory said while Superintendent Gary Molloy is on leave, she has instructed his two deputies to ensure that those individuals with already approved per diems and time sheets be paid by the next pay period.
She said she expects the district leadership to ensure that when people work, they are in fact paid.
But is not this what is supposed to happen on a regular basis? Who dropped the ball? Why were the St. Croix teachers not paid? Is the money still there? Why did they not say something sooner? I don’t know if these questions will ever be answered or if anybody other than the teachers really care, but I would bet my sandy bottom that if I taught in summer school in any other situation other than in a volunteer agreement, I would have my money.
Source:: Sandy Bottoms
