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.
Please add your comments at the bottom of the blog. Share this blog with all your friends and relatives.
___________________
Bark Di Trute requests that you click on the advertiser's link on the page and also donate to the work of Bark Di Trute. It takes cash to care!
 |
| Click here to see what's happening. |
Subscribe Now!
Remember that Bark Di Trute could fail to bark one day without your support. Send your ideas, stories, and news by WhatsApp at (876) 816-5261.
You can view the blog with your computer at https://vderby.blogspot.com, and you will be able to see the various links. For example, there is a link that takes you to the calendar to see what is happening on the weekend. You can even search the site for articles. There is also a weather link, which you can use to track hurricanes.
_____________________
.jpeg)
While I will not "tear down BDT," I must state my opposition to this article. There is very scarce reference to the specific incidence that is the subject of social media sharing and news coverage. There is no widespread bullying at JC. Never has been! This recent instance is not bullying. It is pure gangsters, bad -manism, and jungle justice. It is no different from the same mindset of certain police personnel who go on operations. Neither are "widespread" but both deserve to be repudiated by all. No one should take it upon themselves to execute "justice" for any perceived wrongdoing. The police who kill bad man and plant guns are just as culpable as the JC student who slapped up the other student who is allegedly guilty of theft. Multiple acts of theft!! This is not about rampant bullying and should not be so classified. No evidence exists! Journalists are absconding their professional responsibility and getting away with it. Your article writer is equally guilty of this practice and should keep their personal opinion without the weight of any evidentiary material to themselves. You do the school a disservice with this publication, my brother. There have been numerous other similar incidents at a number of other schools before and after the JC case that have not drawn the same response. Perhaps it's a case of 'to whom much is given...'?🤷🏾♂️
ReplyDeleteBullying unfortunately has been a part of schools worldwide-noteably Austin Metcalf killed by a student who was was allegedly being bullied by Metcalf in Texas. In jamaica a student in Morant bay fatally stabbed on the school compound. Jamaica college having been in the news from their victories in schools challenge and boys champs unfortunately had these incidents publicized. The evidence that I am aware of does not support widespread bullying at JC. The school administration should now realise the premium JC brand and take a no nonsense approach to bullying. JC is grooming men to be leaders of the future and it must instill in students not to take law into their own hands.
ReplyDeleteThe 2 previous comments are indeed disappointing. Whilst bullying has been occurring for some time, they were never violent during the period in which I was a student. I am 60 years old. Bullying these days are far more violent and more likely to result in murder for us to feel it is OK to state that it is not widespread in the school. That's not the point. One act of bullying, as we have seen, can result in deadly consequences. None of us would feel comforted with an isolated case of bullying, if it was our child that's a victim of violence, and in particular, deadly violence. Any attempt to minimise its seriousness with an it's-not-a-widespread-problem comment would be deemed insensitive by the affected family. Try telling that same argument to the mother who's son was bullied at JC earlier this year. She would undoubtedly view such comment as insensitive, if not downright reckless.
ReplyDeleteBARK DI LIAD - "You "nattering nabob of negativism." (A apt quote from Safire - you may have heard of him).
ReplyDeleteBARK DI LIAD...You’ve graduated from commentary to fabrication. At this point, you’re not informing anyone, you’re manufacturing narrative.
And let’s be clear: whoever is ghostwriting this for you left fingerprints all over it. The inconsistencies, the recycled phrasing, the quiet edits after being called out, it’s amateur hour. The trail is obvious. Bark di Liad!
What’s more troubling is the obsession. Jamaica College has become your fixation, your content engine, your convenient villain. Meanwhile, real tragedy unfolds elsewhere, a student stabbed to death in St. Thomas and not a word from you. No outrage. No analysis. No “truth.”
That tells us everything.
This isn’t about accountability. It’s about agenda.
So spare us the theatrics and the performative outrage. If you’re going to claim “truth,” at least have the discipline to pursue it consistently, not selectively, not opportunistically, and certainly not dishonestly.
Until then, the rebrand stands:
Bark di Liad.
You talk about accuracy, and yet your comments are inaccurate. You said I would not write about my alma mater if there were challenges there, and I have. I have even put up links to articles published by Bark Di Trute about problems in other schools, yet you fail to recognize that. In a blog about JC, there is a picture highlighting the murder at Seaforth High. I have given suggestions to improve the system, and you have ignored them. I have told you already that targeting Bark Di Trute is a waste of time. Tell your leaders to have a PR person to assist them at this time because they are putting their foot in their mouths. The whole media in Jamaica has taken up this issue. It is no longer something being highlighted by Bark Di Trute. Tell the leadership of the school that the worst thing to do is to take on the media in a crisis. Is it true that media people were locked out of the school compound recently? Now that is something for you to write about. Try as you may, you cannot damage Bark Di Trute's credibility. As someone who has been in consumer advocacy and broadcasting for many years, I am proud to say I still have the respect of a significant number of Jamaicans, and I don’t have any intention to lose that credibility. Now go and spend some time helping to make JC great again. You might bring some success. First, the change has to start from within. Your cussing style will not take you or JC anywhere. Thanks to the members of the JC community for keeping me informed.
DeleteThe yard fowl mentality is oozing here from some crowing hens ...lol....u left out the rut jc fell into under a British born headmaster... They were infamous for raging pitch battles with mona...a female teacher was also groped at the institution...
ReplyDeleteA past student called me this afternoon and said he was bullied while he was a student at JC. He delivered what could have been a knockout punch to the bully, and that was the end of the bullying. It is through social media that the school administration is made aware of some incidents. I am told that many incidents go unreported.
Delete