Ruel Reid got 5 years extended leave approval, corruption backed by Ja Gov costing tax payers daily

Ruel Reid got 5 years extended leave approval, corruption backed by Jamaica Government costing tax payers millions daily.
they need to be accountability , to the citizens of Jamaica.

MAJORITY of the executive members of the Jamaica College Old Boys' Association (JCOBA) and the Jamaica College Parent-Teachers' Association (JC PTA) have reportedly resigned in protest over the five-year special leave extension granted to Ruel Reid yesterday by the school's board of management.

When the Jamaica Observer contacted Michael Bernard, board chairman for JC yesterday evening, he said that he does not know anything about the resignations.

However, stakeholders at the Old Hope Road, St Andrew, institution confirmed the move yesterday evening, saying that the old boys and parents have been fed up with the drawn-out situation regarding Reid's fate.

Both associations have also regarded the leave extension as a slap in the face and undermining of the leadership of Acting Principal Wayne Robinson over the past five years.

Reid remains before the courts, having been arrested in October 2019 on charges of defrauding the Ministry of Education and Caribbean Maritime University of millions of dollars. He was expelled from the Andrew Holness Cabinet in March 2019. The JC board had released him on secondment in March 2016 to serve as minister for an initial period of two years.

Efforts to reach JCOBA President Major Basil Jarrett proved futile, but highly placed sources at JC say Jarrett and his team's resignation, which came last week, was largely due to internal board processes and not the decision to extend Reid's leave.

The old boys were just as surprised when they heard the news, but it's the internal board processes — how the board has been trying to silence them — why they resigned,” the source said, adding that only one JCOBA executive member remains.

The JC PTA also saw mass resignations of its executive officers, except for the president and first vice-president.

Collin Greenland, JC PTA president, confirmed the mass resignations.

“The mass of the old boys have resigned and the mass of the PTA has resigned, but not everybody is gone. Some persons in both organizations may also follow, but when you have responsibilities you want to put things in place before you make that final step, he said.

Greenland added that, while the school community is very saddened by what is happening at JC and the PTA, regardless of its views on how the board is handling the situation, he is in the process of gathering feedback from parents.

“I have a certain perspective on the whole issue, and I am gathering the feedback from parents hopefully in a mass meeting tomorrow said.

Meanwhile, Greenland reiterated that the decision to extend Reid's leave was not an indictment on acting JC principal Wayne Robinson's leadership.

“It has nothing to do with Wayne's competence. In the few years he's there he has turned around JC academically. Under Ruel Reid, even before he went to the ministry, my opinion is that JC was a façade. It hid behind infrastructure development and winning Manning Cup and Champs, but if you check the record JC wasn't in the top 30 academically and the discipline wasn't well.

“Since Wayne Robinson has been acting every stakeholder has acknowledged that he has done a quiet turnaround. Everybody wants him appointed. The difficulty is because of the legal complexities of the Education Act the board is hamstrung in its decision-making,Greenland said.

Further, Greenland said the saga is being presented as a JC issue, but if the problems presented elsewhere the principle they are defending would still remain.

“Ruel Reid is still the principal of JC. But what does the average Jamaican feel, that a man who the prime minister deems is not suitable to be a minister remains as the principal of one of Jamaica's most prominent high schools? How does Jamaica feel about that? Take JC out of the picture. How do you explain to 1,400 boys at JC and a youngster throughout Jamaica when you're preaching to them honesty and integrity, but you have a man who is on a corruption charge mark you, it's not decided yet — but a man so tainted remaining principal, when his boss has immediately fired him as a minister? My sadness is that I don't think it is resonating enough in Jamaica. People see it as a JC problem. It is, but if it was a Calabar, JC or KC principal, the principle wouldn't escape me, he said.

Greenland added: “Principals ought to be looked up to, revered. Over the years principals are seen to be somebody fit and proper to lead the youngsters. When a student looks upon a principal he is supposed to use him as an example. Your principal, your preacher, certain persons ought to be fit and proper, and if that image is tainted they ought not to remain. We are deeply saddened, but I am doing further consultations.