Dear Editor,
In the wake of the Sacred Heart School’s “Safety” Officer being fired last week for inappropriate behavior, I wish to not focus on the symptom, but rather the cause. Our community has a way of always blaming the victim, but I beg to ask, what has the school done or is doing?
I am writing this letter, hoping that it starts a conversation, because there has been none, not with the people in the high positions that can make a difference anyway. Also, no communication to the parents and no counselling for the many children that had a relationship with the former employee. The irony of hiring a safety officer that turns out to be the most unsafe thing this school has done to date.
Who is taking responsibility for this? Or will the message continue to be: blame someone who is no longer on the island? Last time I checked, the former board (which included the Island Governor), current board and executive director – the real people who are responsible for making decisions – are all still here, all still walking around as though they have done no wrong, playing God with the lives of our children.
A weekend-long scandal disappeared on Monday morning, but the effects will remain with our children and if we are in fact making the issue bigger than it needs to be by asking that attention be paid to our children, then why did the school see the need to fire the individual?
You see, an incident cannot be bad enough to fire someone but not bad enough to conduct a proper investigation, accept responsibility and give help to those who need it. Or are we afraid of uncovering Saba’s very own “me too” movement.
Saba Comprehensive School, you are not excluded, it’s always Cinco de Mayo everyday for your students. Let’s remember that the babies at Laura Linzey Daycare will be exposed to this sooner or later, if we don’t fix the problem. With all the “expertise professionals” at EC2-education care, what are you doing to show that you care?
It takes teamwork to fix a problem, but it also takes teamwork to ignore it.
And then we wonder why our children hate school or why we want to leave the island so that they can be educated somewhere else.
A concerned parent
Name withheld at author’s request
