Union Chief Backs Programme
By DANA SMITH
Tribune Staff Reporter
dsmith@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS
Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson voiced her support of the
government’s school policing programme, saying the presence of officers
on school grounds will aid in conflict resolution and combat instances
of students carrying dangerous weapons.
“Our executive
committee, we have discussed this and we are pleased to partner with the
Ministry of Education, the Ministry of National Security, and more
particularly with the Commissioner (of Police Ellison Greenslade),” Ms
Wilson said at a press conference at Police Headquarters for the
unveiling of the programme.
“I
want to also note the Commissioner tried very hard last year to have
this initiative developed because we had a meeting and we agreed that
the police officers will assist, and they did, so I’m happy now to see
that the programme is going to be expanded.”
Ms
Wilson said she wants to stress that stationing officers in schools
will aid administrators and security guards already present in resolving
disagreements and gathering “intelligence”.
“The
police are not only going to be there for crimes, but based on the
information that I have, they will be there to help with conflict
resolution. They will be able to identify some of the problems, prior to
the problems happening,” she said.
“You
will have intelligence on the ground in the school. When you talk about
a cutlass-wielding child, when you talk about the child that was in an
altercation over the weekend and gets to school early on Monday and
stashes a gun, a knife, a dagger, a cutlass – that’s not the teacher’s
job.”
Asked
if teachers are seeing such scenarios presently, Ms Wilson said: “Yes
we are. That isn’t anything new – we’ve been seeing it. So we’re saying
now if the police are there and they’re able to complement the security
officers then that should really be able to cut down on the incidents
that we’ve seen, so we’re happy about it.”
Education
Minister Jerome Fitzgerald announced last week officers will be
stationed in schools across the islands come the start of the new term
in September.
He
said the programme would in no way diminish or make obsolete the
authority and responsibility of administrators, teachers and security
officers. Rather the officers would complement the disciplinary
programmes and strategies already in place.
August 28, 2012
