SALCC Responds to Erroneous News Item

It has come to the attention of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College that on 6th May, 2020 MBC Television broadcasted a news item on its 7:00 p.m. MBC Prime Time News relating to the College that has since drawn negative attention locally, regionally and internationally. The news item alleges that the College terminated the employment contracts of approximately thirty of its teaching personnel, and, in so doing, also failed to even consult with the collective bargaining units representing these individuals.

The news item went on to highlight a number of aspects of the employment contract of the College’s principal and moreover insinuated that he has failed to achieve one of his crucial employment mandates which is to attract new funds to the College. The College refutes the news item and as such finds it necessary to set the record straight on the above mentioned allegations.

The College’s Human Resource Department engaged in its annual routine staffing exercise in its preparations for the 2020-2021 academic year. An aspect of this exercise required the College to write to ten of its teaching personnel who are on fixed term contracts. This included four adjunct personnel who are retirees, three personnel who are on 10-month employment contracts with the College, two others who are teachers on secondment from the Ministry of Education and one who is a replacement teacher. The College had merely provided these personnel with written notification of the impending natural expiration of their employment contracts.

These employment contracts have not been terminated by the College as was suggested by the news item. The College was moreover not under any obligation to have consulted with the bargaining units for the affected personnel as was suggested by the news item.

The College wishes to emphasise that its Principal is a highly qualified individual who was appointed by its Board of Governors after having undergone a rigorous recruitment process. His employment contract is commensurate with his qualifications. The College, under the leadership of its Principal and his team, have developed new programme offerings for the summer period and for the new academic year with direct supervision from its Institutional Effectiveness and Transformation Unit.

A significant share of the new programmes being offered, will enable Saint Lucians to embrace the opportunities embedded in the Digital Economy. Several of the upcoming summer academies will have a strong focus on building digital skills for school leavers and new entrants to the College. There is an e-Learning academy for teachers and another academy focused on building creative and digital entrepreneurship.

The new academic year will see the introduction of highly marketable programmes called Gateways to Global Careers which facilitate easy matriculation to international universities after completion of the Associates Degree programme. The Gateways programmes, which are focussed on the Digital Economy and Sustainable Development offer students the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills through strong internships, incubators and design competitions. The Principal and his team have to date thus created a highly competitive and viable revenue stream for the College which is entirely contrary to the inaccurate information that was disseminated in the news item.

It is readily apparent to the College that the news item is wholly erroneous and moreover constitutes a reckless, mischievous and malicious attempt to generate feelings of panic, anxiety and distress among the College’s personnel and substantially undermine the leadership of its principal. The College has thus passed the news item onto its attorneys who will take appropriate legal action against MBC on its behalf.