By: Ralph Cantave
PHILIPSBURG – During the course of the summer vacation, 19 public school teachers worked for the inaugural National Summer School program, and are awaiting full payment to date.
The program was an initiative of the Department of Education. According to reliable sources, this was a misstep by the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport, Drs. Rodolphe Samuel, who indicated that payment would be made where in actuality the work was considered as hours that fall under their regular salary. Despite having the month of July off as part of the summer recess, teachers are paid for that time period. However, they were informed that additional compensation would be rendered, and government in fact paid out 55% of that amount. The teachers were also told that a budget was in place as well for the three week program. Now five months later, communication and updates have dwindled from the cabinet of the Minister. To date, Samuel has not responded to questions sent on September 22 about the matter. Nonetheless, he acknowledged receipt of them and made mention of a journalist asking “all kinds of questions” during a meeting with the teachers, a source confirmed.
The Summer School program was launched to allow students in need of additional lessons to improve and be up to date with the curriculum. Many children from public schools were a part of it. Initially the teachers were told that payment was separate from the regular income as an incentive to work throughout their break. Those 19 teachers only had one week vacation following their participation in the program. A contract was also signed and the program lasted from July 4 to July 22. On July 19, 2022, Daison Marks, the interim head of the Division Public Education received an email from the teachers expressing their dissatisfaction with lack of payment, having provided their banking information. Noteworthy, is that the contracts for the teachers were provided after the program began and they never received a copy. Also, the Hillside Christian School, one of the subsidized schools, received funds to pay their teachers who took part in the program-albeit that they fall under a different administrative procedure (outside government payroll).
On August 3, 2022, the teachers received 55% of the agreed upon amount and the next communication came on August 24. Marks forwarded a notice he was provided to the teachers and the notice explained that the ‘landsbesluit’ (LB/ legal regulation) was pending signature from the former Governor, Drs. Eugene Holiday. They were informed that this would be rectified in August’s payroll however, “due to many unforeseen hurdles, the payment of the remainder of the remuneration has not been finalized.” After deliberation with Marks the teachers were informed that the situation was above Marks’ role as his hands were tied and a proposal was made to pass on to teachers which would have resulted in a lower compensation. On September 24, the teachers met with the Minister who stated he needed more information and would revert back to them. Given the stalled communication on the matter, the teachers submitted an official letter to Samuel requesting the balance of their payment by December 30, 2022.
When discussing the summer program to the public on July 20, Samuel stated “It is important to note that the funding for the program is in place and everyone who participated in the program will be paid”. He also stated on August 10, “The National Summer School Program was indeed a great success and we are in the stage where we are making payments to the persons that helped in the program…the teachers…the vendors and everyone else that was there. And I would like to indicate that even though, we were not able to pay the teachers full, we have started by paying them an advance. And when the administration of everything is finished, the balance of the payment will be made to the teachers.”
By: Ralph Cantave
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