School principal defends disciplinary action against eighth-grader | eSponsored

Principal Keven Jones of Mona High School in St Andrew stands by his decision to exclude Tracie-Anne Williams’ daughter and other students involved in a fight, stressing that the school’s disciplinary policy was applied appropriately. Jones described the incident as a “big fight” and stressed the importance of adhering to school rules, which give principals the power to exclude students whose behavior compromises school discipline.

Headmaster believes the school has been lenient and stresses the importance of discipline

Jamaica Gleaner/25 June 2024/Sashana Small/Staff Reporter

A FRUSTRATIONAL mother has accused the management of Mona High School in St Andrew of ruining her daughter’s academic future after she was suspended from school during examination period.

Tracie-Anne Williams said her daughter, an eighth-grader and student council member, was intervening in a fight between three other students last Thursday when she was punched. Her daughter reportedly fought back and hit back before the fight was eventually broken up by a teacher.

All students involved in the fight, including her daughter, were suspended for two days. Williams believes this disciplinary measure is unfair to her child.

“She was not the aggressor. She just stepped in to break up the fight, got hit and hit the person who hit her,” Williams said.

She also pointed out that her daughter had missed three exams due to the suspension, which would affect her class placement and choice of subject in ninth grade.

When Williams learned of the disciplinary action, she met with principal Keven Jones, but he was uncompromising.

“He is selfishly jeopardizing her academic future. For me, this was a selfish matter,” the parent complained.

Williams said she even went so far as to ask the Department of Education for help and was told it was not common for schools to suspend students during exam time, but she said Jones “made it very clear that it was his school.”

“It’s about my child’s education. It’s his academic future and I’m willing to go the extra mile,” she said. “Even though my child is not the only child affected… I don’t think it’s fair because if those grades are on the report cards and the GPA is adjusted downward, then it means the child has not performed well.”

She said her daughter graduated top of her class in her first year of school and was class representative.

During the meeting with the principal, Williams said it was revealed that her daughter and other students had been involved in a verbal argument four days earlier. However, she complains that no parent was informed of the incident.

However, Jones described last Thursday’s brawl as a “major brawl” and pointed out that the students were punished according to school policy.

Section 30 of the Rules gives the principal of a public school the power to suspend any student from school for up to ten days if his conduct is such that his presence has or may have a detrimental effect on the discipline of the institution or if he commits any act which causes injury to a member of the teaching staff or to another student.

The principal acknowledged that Williams’ daughter had no previous disciplinary problems. But even then, he said, no alternative punishments were considered.

“The policy is suspension, and so they have to learn to behave,” he said. “That is a consequence. You can’t have people just breaking the rules and then, on top of breaking the rules, the institution has the responsibility to accommodate them because they don’t want to miss their exams.”

Jones said the case was being handled by one of the school’s vice principals, noting that such offenses typically result in a suspension of up to five days, but the girls were only sentenced to two days of instruction.

In the meantime, Williams still hopes that her child will have the opportunity to take the exams.

“She studied for it, and that’s three zeros, and it’s not because she didn’t want to take her exams…” she said.

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