CALABAR PRESS RELEASE

Press Release – Calabar High School – Response to Public Complaint By Sanjay Shaw – March 24, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATEMENT FROM CALVIN ROWE

ACTING PRINCIPAL, CALABAR HIGH SCHOOL

We write in response to a press conference called by a teacher of Physics at the Calabar High School (Calabar), Mr. Sanjay Shaw, on Friday, March 22, 2019, in which he sought to detail an incident between himself and students of the school. Based on material supplied at, and a recording of, the press conference, Mr. Shaw et al, levelled accusations of misplaced priorities and lack of timeliness at the school’s administrators, primarily me, as acting Principal, in our handling of the situation.

This response will not be detained by the accusation of misplaced priorities, which he posited is evidenced by the school placing greater emphasis on sports vis-a-vis academics. Many of us were privy to a robust discussion which raged in sections of the media a few months ago (2018 August/September) over our insistence that our boys do their best academically. That is still, and will always be our stance.

We will focus on the allegations Mr. Shaw spewed about being assaulted by two members of the school’s athletics team notwithstanding the absence of any evidence of said assault from the videos he produced. The facts of the case as we know them are as follows:

On the evening of Saturday, December 15, 2018, I was made aware of an incident that took place on the school’s campus earlier that day involving Mr. Shaw and members of the track and field team. I was advised that the incident surrounded the removal, by Mr. Shaw, who was hosting a Physics camp, of mattresses being used by the track & field team and a subsequent attempt to retrieve them by members of the track & field cohort.
I visited the campus the next day, Sunday, December 16, 2018 and began to investigate the matter. I addressed both groups in the presence of the Calabar Old Boys Association (COBA) President.
In my discussion with Mr. Shaw, I expressed regret that the incident occurred and requested that he provide a report to include video recordings he said he had and which he had already shared with a former president of COBA.
On December 18, 2018, in the presence of the Dean of Studies, I again asked Mr. Shaw, and he agreed, to provide me with the video footage of the incident.
On December 19, 2018, I wrote to Mr. Shaw requesting the promised footage to which he replied without reference to the video (email evidence available).
On December 22, 2018, I received the report from the management of the track & field team. I also learnt on/around that time that a medical doctor visited the camp to inform them that his patient, Mr. Shaw, was intent on pressing charges against two of the students for allegedly assaulting him.
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2018, I received the report requested from Mr. Shaw, minus the video footage.
Upon the re-opening of the new term on January 7, 2019 another request for the video recordings was made on January 10; the videos were eventually turned over on January 11.
As soon as was possible in the Easter Term, having received the video footage, my team and I began to process the reports and conducted interviews with persons who either were involved in, or witnesses to, the incident.
It became clear to us as the investigations proceeded that there were conflicting accounts on key aspects, for example, the two students involved strongly denied assaulting Mr. Shaw and testified instead to the contrary; while one student admitted to shoving the teacher’s phone from the face of his teammate he was adamant that he did not step on the instrument.
Having taken all things into consideration and noting the conflicting reports and the lack of evidence of any assault on the video footage, we decided not to escalate the matter to the Board but to deal with it at the level of the school’s senior leadership team.
Subsequent to that decision and with some considerable effort a meeting was finally convened with Mr. Shaw on Friday, February 1, 2019. In attendance at that meeting were a teacher, who is also a member of the coaching staff, a Vice Principal and the JTA Representative on staff, in the capacity of an observer and support to Mr. Shaw.
The meeting concluded with three demands being placed on the table by Mr. Shaw, namely to reimburse cost of repairing his phone, reimburse his medical costs and to punish the students by way of suspension. He was advised to submit the relevant documentation for the first two and that the nature of the punishment was the prerogative of the Principal.
With the matter satisfactorily resolved we delivered a strong reprimand to the two students for disobeying a direct order from the teacher not to enter the classroom (in which he had stored the mattresses he removed from the track and field camp) and awaited receipt of the documentation for the repairs to the phone and medical bill.
Signs of Mr. Shaw’s dissatisfaction manifested sometime later when he visited my office to ascertain if the two students had been suspended. In that visit he made it clear that the other two issues (phone repair and medical bill) were no longer important to him, it was the suspension of the students that he was interested in.
Giving thought to Mr. Shaw’s insistence and even though I had made it clear that the nature of the punishment was not his prerogative, upon further reflection I decided to go a step further. The two students were re-interviewed and while their testimonies were unchanged I decided to suspend them for 5 days with the proviso that they were required to work on their CAPE SBAs, they were allowed to train and they would compete in their final development meet. It ought to be noted that both punitive measures were aimed at addressing the matter of disobedience to a teacher’s directive and NOT for assault, which, as was said earlier, we could not validate independently and with sufficient conviction.
Again we assumed that the matter was finally satisfactorily behind us and were shocked to learn on Thursday, March 21, of a pending press conference being organized for Mr. Shaw to air his grouse.
Later that day we became aware of an email sent by Mr. Shaw in which he expressed outrage at the fact that one of the students represented the school at a development meet while on suspension. We were also advised that Mr. Shaw was willing to have dialogue with us on the matter.
We expressed an openness to speaking with Mr. Shaw even though by that time a press advisory/release was already in the public space. In a telephone call with Mr. Shaw (placed on speaker and in the presence of the vice principals) that same evening (March 21) he denied knowledge of the matter being in the public domain.
Several efforts on our part to facilitate a face-to-face meeting that evening, as well as the next day, did not materialize as Mr. Shaw did not make himself available.
We are deeply disappointed with the action taken by Mr. Shaw especially since, as a teacher of over four years tenure at Calabar, he could have sought the guidance of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) representative at the school who would have surely advised him to exhaust the avenues available to him for resolution within the school and wider education fraternity.

This whole saga has led to many disgusting, unsavoury, unnecessary and uninformed responses and actions by persons known and unknown. We have learnt, for example, of social media posts fraudulently claiming to be from the two students in question and acknowledge their public statements disassociating themselves from these posts. We join them in denouncing these acts and support their reporting them to the police for appropriate action.

As regrettable as this saga is, it has provided another opportunity for us to reaffirm our commitment to the formation of the young lives entrusted to our charge. It has served as a teaching moment for students, staff and other stakeholders and will assist in our constant review of our processes and practices. We are confident that this matter will result in a renewed commitment to our motto, The Utmost for the Highest.

Calvin B. Rowe

Acting Principal

March 24, 2019

Tel: 876 351-1940

13 thoughts on “CALABAR PRESS RELEASE

  1. I believe this report. From reading the teacher’s account, I kept seeing that the teacher was more vested in the level of punishment, he was of the view that one of the boys was allowed on the school compound.

    It is my belief that the teacher should have called the press conference earlier or waited until after champ. That way it would show that there is no ill-intent on his part toward the boys. Now it seems that he wanted to have a final say in how the youths were punished. They both got 5 days suspension but he wants a pound of flesh.

    1. The teacher is still disrespected when he walks on the compound so clearly the boys did not get the message. Dem fi get expell

      1. Boys will be boys. How is the the athletes fault the other students are mocking the teacher? They probably thought he was dealing with it like a fassy. Suspension was not enough punishment for him?
        Him being an albino was enough though not his fault was reason enough for boys to want to ridicule him so maybe he’s overly sensitive…

  2. These kids need to be punish because they run for the she school shouldn’t mean they are allowed to assault any teacher, I’m with mr Shaw 100%

  3. Those two boys gonna grow up to turn gun man why was they fighting the teacher for mattress they parents can’t afford , it belong to the school not to those two unruly bad breed kids

  4. I see a lot of bull shit in principal statement, no child should ever feel it’s ok to put they hand on a teacher

  5. No proof the boys assaulted the teacher. Wid fi him albino colour or lack thereof where’s the physical evidence of assault? He wants the punishment for the boys to be as HE seems fit not as the school authorities deem.

    He’s seeking notoriety in light of the pending Boys champs and he’s sure getting it. Timing backfired like Markus Myrie. He was told there were no extra mattresses yet he still removed them….him look trouble and him get it. Yea the boys shouldn’t enter the classroom but the teacher wants more than his pound of flesh.

    I believe the Acting Principal

  6. This long winded statement from the Principal has elements of “curry favour” .

    Where is the message of ZERO TOLERANCE to these types of behavior?

  7. Unno nuh nam mi but as Shibby wudda sey mek wi talk.

    I think this teacher was negligent in that, he arranged a sleep over and did not secure the mattresses before hand for the children who were to sleep over. Based on his Press Conference, he only asked about the mattresses while the parents were there. His request was not favorable met and the Coach was disrespectful to him (as per his Press Release). He, the Teacher took the mattresses nonetheless.

    My view is that he (the teacher) didnt do due diligence in getting all that was needed for the children to overnight under his care (mattresses/sleeping cots). Notwithstanding, I DO NOT agree that he should be attacked by the students or anyone else for that matter. We must need to extend the same grace we seek. What if the parents of the students who were to overnight were outraged that the teacher didnt ensure that there were mattresses for their children to sleep on and demand action against?

    It seemed that he didnt procure the mattresses before hand, as it was an oversight on his part. The Coach called him stupid and made him ‘feel away’. To add insult to injury he was further subjected to more embarrassment by the boys. The boys were disciplined and one was allowed on the premises to complete a school project.

    In MY opinion, the boys were punished and that wasn’t enough for him, stemming from a situation where he, himself didnt do things correctly. In the words of Kenny Rodgers, you have to know when to hold, fold and walk away. These boys are on their way out of Calabar, but that teacher has more than 20 years (assuming) left in him that he could be a teacher and maybe eventually the Principal.

  8. Dont be too quick to judge as the full story is still not coming out. I listened to what the teacher had to say & some of the things arent adding up. He made mention that he got cut from his broken cellphone screen, 1 in his hand middle & the other on his elbow & said his medical bill came up to $60,000.00. $60,000.00 medical bill for 2 cuts. A medical bill which he is yet to present the school who had requested it several times to date. Secondly, he also said that he had video evidence of his assault & the videos that he himself provided showed no such assault but showed a student been pushed by whoever was recording the incident which presumable was him.

    I think there are a lot more to this than what was revealed to the public. We have not heard from any of the students in the teacher’s physic camp, the track camp or the 2 other camps that were on the school compound at the time. Nothing from the police who the incident was reported to on the same night. Why is the teacher only interested in further punishment of 1 particular student?..Why he is no longer interested in the reimbursement of his medical bill & cellphone?.. Why did the school take so long to act on the incident?…There seems to be more questions than answers.

  9. I am with Mr. Shaw on this one. Why would he be lying if there were students there as witnesses? All me know, mi glad Mr. Shaw never tek it to them. Don’t let his “albino look” fool unno. Him come from ghetto one of the worst “ghetto”….ask Red Hills Road people, and if him survive where him come from …..boy oh boy…this could have been so different.

    The Non-acting principal only a save face. This is an athletic institution. Education is secondary. My baby father repeat 5th form 3 times just to play Manning Cup left with about 2 subjects.

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