GHS Headmistress deserves an apology

Fri, Jul 29. 2011

Editor: I am ‘Labour’, I adore my Prime Minister, oh how I love the way he speaks and expresses himself, but the Bowman/Soleil situation caught me somewhat. I tried to read every article that relates to this to try to understand, but it is most contradictory.{{more}}

Prime Minister said he is dealing with the matter as a parent, but somehow there’s a slip somewhere, and this may be logical for a parent with love for a child – the Prime Minister is no different. So it is not really wrong for him to clarify or even try to justify it, but it is the format he used to justify which is puzzling.

As a parent myself, I wonder if it’s a situation where Soleil thought the phone was off and it was not – if this was so, I think she should humble herself, apologise, accept the punishment and use it as a guidance for the future. What if that exam was external? I wonder what would have been my good Prime Minister’s speech then? Yes, it hurts to get a zero for an exam, but think about why it was given and use it as a caution sign – CSEC is next year for her.

On the other hand, the Headmistress – Mrs. Bowman has been nothing but good to these girls. All she does is to set standards to mold these girls in advance, and they all know what she stands for, from the time they enter school. Soleil is in form 4. By now, the rules of the Girls’ High School should be at the tip of her fingers with the cell phone rule being outstanding, especially during exams.

Mrs. Bowman has been an excellent Headmistress both to her girls and teachers. Please let her do her job. Don’t try to change her or things will fall apart for this highly rated school. It is not very often we meet people like Mrs. Bowman. She has worked too hard to be humiliated in such a manner. I think she deserves an apology due to the way the situation was dealt with. This matter could have been dealt with in-house; it didn’t have to hit the media. The fact that it hit the media is telling me that you are speaking as the Prime Minister and not as a parent, which is the total opposite of what you are saying.

So, as much as I love to hear you speak and express yourself, I’m winning you over on this one. You need to consider and think this over, this time as a ‘parent’ for real. ‘Everyone slips. Sometimes the slip is so hard that it’s difficult to find the nerve to accept the responsibility for the unnecessary discomfort cause by the slippage. (Just a thought).

Sizla