Contributed By A Bark Di Trute Supporter
Jamaica College is once again in the news, and for all the wrong reasons. If you have been following the news lately, no doubt you would have heard about the school’s current travails with rampant bullying and violence at the Old Hope Road campus. That fresh wave of scrutiny came after a viral video appeared to show a student in uniform being beaten by other boys, prompting the Ministry of Education to order an immediate probe. The ministry said the footage was “disturbing”, reaffirmed its zero-tolerance position on bullying and violence, and deployed specialized teams to the school as part of an investigation. Prior to the video’s emergence, news media had reported that the school had already been under pressure over a March 24 incident in which another student was beaten badly enough to require hospital treatment. The boy’s mother and her attorney argued that the emergence of the latest video added weight to claims of a gang and bullying culture at the institution, even as the school board chairman, Lance Hylton, rejected that characterization.
To understand how we got here, one needs to go back to 2019 when the school’s former principal and embattled former Minister of Education, Ruel Reid, was arrested by the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) on corruption-related charges. Following his arrest, charge, and dismissal from the post of minister, Reid applied to be returned to JC as principal, a move that would require board approval.
That application led to a collision between the JC board and the JC Old Boys Association (JCOBA) president, Major Basil Jarrett, over the way forward. Jarrett and the JCOBA believed the school should move to remove him. But the board's attorney reportedly advised that the board lacked the power to do so. Jarrett, as JCOBA president and board representative, initially went along with that advice, but the rupture came in September 2021, when it became public that Reid had requested a five-year extension of special leave. Jarrett says he then urged board chairman Michael Bernard to revisit earlier legal advice and consider terminating Reid instead.
From Jarrett’s account, that disagreement triggered the real fight. A recorded call in which he used militant political metaphors about mobilizing Old Boys and parents against any Reid extension was recast by some board members as threatening language. Jarrett says that at a board meeting, the board initially rejected that interpretation, but the issue was then weaponized against him when he demanded an apology from Bernard. He was then barred from meetings, accused of being unfit, excluded from the board, and later became the subject of a sustained public attack. Jarrett said that the JCOBA was frozen out of key discussions about Reid, targeted for removal from the board, and eventually evicted from the campus amid later disputes over uniform sales and governance. By March 2022, after an online meeting entitled “The Chronicles,” the conflict had plainly crossed into defamation territory and ended up in court.
Running parallel to that feud was the unresolved question of who would permanently lead Jamaica College. Wayne Robinson had been acting principal since March 2016, after Reid left to serve as education minister. Even after Reid formally resigned as principal in November 2021, Robinson was not immediately confirmed. The board advertised the job, conducted interviews, and recommended Robinson, but the Ministry of Education and the Teachers’ Services Commission (TSC) did not sign off quickly. In May 2022, the TSC secretariat reportedly told the board that Robinson did not have the required three years of service as a trained teacher in a public educational institution and asked the board to justify the choice and seek a waiver. The Board pushed back, arguing that Robinson had already been deemed qualified by the Ministry in 2019 and met the certification requirements.
That still did not settle it. By May 2024, the ministry was also tying the delay to an audit at Jamaica College and said the school first had to respond to audit queries before the minister would act. The results of that audit have still not been made public. So Robinson’s appointment stalled not just because of the Reid fallout, but because of qualification concerns, bureaucratic review, and wider governance issues hanging over the school. He was finally confirmed in August 2024, with the appointment made retroactive to September 1, 2022. In effect, his confirmation became the bureaucratic endnote to years of turmoil: the Reid scandal, board infighting, ministry scrutiny, litigation, and a school community split by one of the ugliest internal battles in JC’s recent history. That battle continues as Lance Hylton and several members of the JC board, including Principal Wayne Robinson, have taken Jarrett to court, with Jarrett in response, countersuing for defamation. It remains to be seen where this will end up as court proceedings are notoriously lengthy affairs. But one thing is certain: the damage being done to one of Jamaica’s most esteemed high schools is certain to continue.
Editor's Note
It seems to me that the problem at Jamaica College is not just about students being bullied. The internal conflicts among stakeholders over the years have taken root like a duppy in the school. Change in leadership is needed now to preserve one of Jamaica's well-established high schools.
If action is not taken soon, we shall see the deterioration of a once noble institution.
What is interesting is that a press release from the school stated that the boy who was bullied last week admitted to taking things from the boys. Are we trying to give an excuse for the bullying? Good leaders are careful with their language and, specifically, the tone of their language.
To some JC past students, I say, do not waste time tearing down Bark Di Trute, try building up Jamaica College.
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