Ms. Rhoda Arrindell
Sint Maarten, February 10th 2011
Honorable Minister Arrindell,
To our complete shock and dismay we were informed today of your letter, dated February 9th 2011, informing all school board members of an upcoming 2-day closure of all elementary schools.
You have granted permission to close all elementary schools on February 17th and 18th to accommodate the teachers to participate in the ASCD annual conference.
It is mindboggling to read your letter as we just lost four school days due to the industrial action of the teachers to secure their rightful cost of living payment. Your harsh "no work no pay" stance cannot rhyme with your subsequent letter of yesterday, closing down all elementary schools for two whole days.
Let us remind you that this school year alone, all civil servants (including all teachers) already received 3 extra and unscheduled days off, namely: October 11th, November 12th and January 3rd. On top of that there was no school for 5 days due to the passing of hurricane Earl. Add to that the four days of strike and your planned two days next week, and this results in a loss of classes of 14 full days (almost three whole weeks of classes).
As our minister of Education, the PTA of the Sister Magda Primary School sincerely believes that you are playing with the education and the future of our children. The students who are in the sixth grade (group 8) already have to do their secondary school entry exams one month earlier than last year. Taking away almost another month of class - and preparation time puts them in a severely disadvantaged position.
We certainly expect differently from you as minister and strongly urge you to reconsider your letter and planned school closure.
We are absolutely in favor of upgrading and training our teachers, but urge you to schedule these events outside school hours to prevent any further damage to an already very disrupted and disturbed school year.
Since our last letter, concerning another possible school closure to accommodate the Census 2011, went completely unacknowledged by your office, we have decided to send this letter to you and simultaneously to both newspapers on Sint Maarten, hoping to receive a swift reaction or response from you this time.
Wishing you wisdom in your decision-making, we remain,
Sincerely,
The Parent Teacher Association
Sister Magda Primary School
Sint Maarten.
