Education minister defends MPs recommending school board members Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Education and Youth Minister, Fayal Williams, has declared that the ministry has to continue using the services of Members of Parliament (MP) to recommend persons to be appointed to school boards, as not enough persons are generally willing to serve in that capacity.

“Not a lot people want to come forward and serve on boards. It is tough to get people to serve on school boards,” said Williams at a post-Cabinet press briefing last week.

In recent years, questions have been raised about the appointment of certain individuals who are connected to the politicians, to school boards.

Such questions have again surfaced after the Integrity Commission (IC), in a report published last week, flagged North West St Elizabeth MP, JC Hutchinson, for recommending his partner of 32 years, Lola Marshall Williams, for appointment to five Government-run schools in his constituency on several occasions since 2008.

The commission has recommended, among other things, that the Education Ministry or the National Council on Education implement and promote a merit-based system by which a qualified person may apply for and be appointed to serve on school boards.

JC Hutchinson

On Wednesday, Williams called for more persons to come forward to serve as school board members.

Until that time, she said parliamentarians have to be used to recommend suitable persons.

“Our school boards make important decisions about hiring and firing of teachers, and so on, (and) not a lot of people want to step forward,” Williams pointed out.

“We have to utilise our Members of Parliament who know the people in the communities, who can encourage the people to go on boards,” she added.

In referencing the IC report which flagged Hutchinson recommending his partner for several board appointments, Williams admitted that, “Sure, the incident that surfaced had to do with one person being on multiple boards in a particular area.

“We would love to see different people step forward to serve on school boards, but, again, we understand the imperative for the modernisation of how we select persons on boards, and we are committed to moving in that direction,” the minister indicated.

Meanwhile, she assured that the Education and Youth Ministry has been ensuring that school board members are properly trained.

“Since I have been there, we have ensured our boards are more properly trained.

“Over the last two years, we had more sessions with boards, to bring them up to speed in terms of their responsibilities, (and) the regulations under which they operate,” she informed.

“We have (also) ensured that all our school boards are constituted on time, with the requisite persons,” stated Williams.

She said the legislation governing the appointment of school boards could possibly be overhauled, to factor new changes, such as term limits for board members.

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