Reject Notion There Are No Bermudians Capable
“The latest purported OBA selection of a non-Bermudian to fill the Commissioner of Education role creates several pressing concerns,” Shadow Minister of Education and Training Lovitta Foggo said.
Ms Foggo said, “The learning curve needed to comprehend the unique culture, mores and operations of our Bermudian people and our education system. This creates needless delays as in the past capable, qualified Bermudians were required to ‘nursemaid, mentor and even train new commissioners through this process.
“Three Bermudians have been capable of acting as Commissioner of Education. There are also numerous educators, principals and individuals in or that have held high ranking positions at the Ministry of Education.
“Why were those who are good enough to hold the post and even train previous holders of that post not good enough to hold the position on a full time basis?
“The reality is that our education system needs someone who understands our culture, our system and our people, with the ability to create progress from day one,” continued Ms Foggo.
“The reality is that too often we marginalize and denigrate the abilities of our Bermudian born, home grown talent and settle for individuals from systems that are neither demonstrably superior nor even equal to the systems we already have in place.
“We reject the notion that there are no Bermudians capable of holding this position, performing at the highest level and producing results for our children.
“We reject the notion that anything non-Bermudian is automatically the best person for the job.
“Unlike the OBA, the PLP is committed to putting capable, qualified Bermudans first in jobs and opportunities. We have zero tolerance for those who repeatedly demonstrate a lack of respect for Bermudians and seek opportunities to promote opportunities for everyone but Bermudians.
“The PLP is committed to tearing down both anti-Bermudian prejudice and the impediments to capable, qualified Bermudians taking their place as leaders in all aspects of our society,” concluded Ms Foggo.
I agree wholeheartedly. The OBA have an agenda and Bermudians are not at the top of it.
The PLP did nothing about the Hopkins report and are too close to the Teaching Unions to create any meaningful change. We cannot subject working class Black families to years of continued marginalisation through the failure of our Government schools. The rest of the world have upped their game. We cannot argue about single appointments. The private schools are able to get top appointments but the PLP insist on a tiny recruitment pool. Get real and wake up to the fact that we have one of the worst performing systems per dollar spent in the world.
Isn’t the Commissioner chosen by the Education Board, and not the Government, with final approval granted by the Public Service Commission?
Just looked it up and I am correct that it is up to the Board to nominate individuals for the position. So why doesn’t Ms. Foggo target her ire at the members?
BOARD OF EDUCATION Education Act 1996
Chairman – Mr. Curtis Dickinson
Deputy Chairman – Mr. Lorren Wilson
Ms. Jo-Ann Pulley
Mrs. Renee Lawrence
Mr. Richard Smith
Mr. Charles Joynes
Mrs. Carol N. Bassett
Ms. Tamicia Darrell
Mrs. W. Michelle Simmons
Mr. Jason Wade Mr. Craig Bridgewater
Rev. Dr. Leonard Santucci, JP
Mrs. Marlene Warren
Rev. Howard Dill Pastor
Terence Stovell Commissioner of Education – ex-officio
Dr. Duranda Greene, Bermuda College – ex-offico
It’s cuz she’s good at skewing the narrative.
I would hazard a guess that she is well aware it has nothing to do with the OBA, but is telling untruths ….how does that nmake you feel Bermuda ? Can you trust this lady?
Good for stating what has been an abuse of work permits being granted in areas Bermudians are qualified
Bermudians can’t run a bus service in 20 square miles.
Bermudians can’t run a postal service to cover 20 square miles.
But don’t worry, the plp are going to insist a Bermudian can run the education department for your kids – as their own kids go to private schools.
Amen!
That’s so true. When locals can’t seem toget the job right, they want to blame the OBA! Don’t blame the OBA, blame the people, the people who have been appointed to those positions or begged for these positions or evem lied to get these positions, who are not thorough enough or are too Lazy to do things the correct way. We need someone to fix it and then we follow it….BY THE BOOK. So in the future, the locals will know exactly how its supposed to be. Sigh ‘someone who knows our culture’ really?? Take a good look at our kids, we are losing them. They are being shoved through the school system, no real interest in anything, going overseas to better themselves. Why can’t we get it right? The world is leaving us behind because we are stuck on OUR CULTURE and our SELFISHNES. There is no harm done in getting assistance to better this Island. We cannot do it alone…obviously! Who knows maybe one of your kids will be trained under this foreign person to get our education system right.
Why is this woman always so militant?
No, Miss Foggo, the last thing Bermuda needs is for one of those paper shuffling, paper clip counting, three hour lunch taking officers from the Ministry of Education as Commissioner of Education. If one of the private school principals could be persuaded to take the position then perhaps they could turn around the abysmal system that is the government education model. In the private system poor teachers do not last long: in the government system, thanks to the BUT, poor teachers have a job for life. If they are ready, really, poor teachers they are promoted to the Ministry. Sad but true.
I agree in part with what Ms Foggo has said if what she says is the truth. If three Bermudians have held the post of acting commissioner of Education, why are they not good enough to take the position full time. Perhaps the answer is that they don’t want it, I don’t know.
I normally might be offended by what you have said about bad teachers in the public system and by bad I trust you mean ineffective. However, I like many others have witnessed it first hand and watched an ineffective teacher get transferred from school to school rather than being let go and then eventually to the Ministry somewhere. For what ever reason we have confused qualified with good and effective. Just because you are a qualified at anything does not mean you have retained what you learnt in University and know how to effectively use the tools you were taught. All qualified means is that you showed up to class, did your assignments (or had someone do them) and took a test and passed at the end. The world is full of qualified and professional accountants, mechanics,chefs, lawyers, electricians, technicians, doctors, teachers and so on. The are all qualified but is their work ethic, delivery, skill level, passion and effectiveness the same, no!
Didn’t the PLP bring in a foreigner for the same position, that skipped the island shortly after…
Committed to Bermudians, yes that’s why there were countless oversees consultants and a explosion in approved work permits under the PLP administration.
You mean the dude with the funny credentials?
Yea that guy
WHERE IS EDMOND HEATLEY NOW? Currently he is the Chief Human Resources Officer in the ST. LOUIS public school system. Does this tell us he was never qualified to be Commissioner of Education?
Let’s not jump the gun here. Who are the board members? Why did the reject any Bermudians if the did apply? Ms. Foggo, I’m sure hasn’t given us the full version and it hasn’t been made public knowledge so why is she trying to stir the pot.
We argue over who should get the job, Why? There are so many Americans and other foreigners out of work that we should feel proud to help them out. We did it for Mr. Prescot , and also for the CEO at the hospital. Why are we now up in arms over the Education Commissioner? We have over looked Bermudians for years. Now we want to champion the cause for Bermudians ? Show me which government that has looked out for its people? Not the UBP. Not the PLP. And now the OBA is falling into the same trap . We ought to be proud of ourselves . Only the people of Bermuda can change Bermuda . Let it start today.
Why was Larry Mussenden given the post of DPP when there was a qualified Bermudian that had applied for the job?
“There are so many Americans and other foreigners out of work that we should feel proud to help them out.”
I rally hope your statement was meant to be sarcasm. If not then you are an imbecile. Americans and other foreigners have their own countries to help them out. If they aren’t helping them that isn’t our problem. We have our own unemployment issue and helping others out of theirs just makes ours worse. North America helping foreigners before helping their own is the exact reason why there is so much unemployment and poverty there.
Yeah “let it start today” by placing a moratorium on any more Filipino workers entering Bermuda until we all find out whether or not we have any Recto University graduates on our shores. Also we must establish whether or not there are any Bermudian accessorys who are aware of this type of fraud and are silent because they are to busy sucking up while at the same time criticising their fellow Bermudians who they consider soft targets.
Nothing to see here folks.
Just more bull from this lady.
Don’t even have to read the article nor related facts et al.
“Our culture, our system”.
Lady, we don’t even speak to each other.
She forgot to add ” while the plp was in power. We did not see a need to fix the issue. Being we are now the loyal oppisition, the system all of a sudden is in shambles and needs to be fixed”
You are welcome.
She sounds like the Republicans who blame President Obama for everything.
She is doing her job, and that is to be re- elected at the next election in order to receive the pay check. It’s called lifestyle.
Correct, and if/when they get back into power they will do the same again.
It was the PLP who spent $100m of borrowed money a year on foreign consultants. And they commissioned a Canadian artist to do the statue of LBE. Why did they do those things if Bermudians were capable?
our culture is very important. But when it comes to educating our youth and in light of our well documented low world education standard, our culture and our system is part of the problem.Hire the most qualified available and the children and business community thank us in 10 years
The education of our children is the most important issue our island faces. Far more important than any of the issues making the press day in day out.
Education needs to be taken out of the government / civil services hands. Their only role should be ensuring sufficient funding is available.
The UBP, PLP, OBA / civil service governments have proven without a shadow of a doubt that they are not fit to run Bermuda’s education system.
The Education Board needs to hire the very best Commissioner of Education they can get their hands on regardless of where in the world they are from. This is far too important to play politics with.
The commissioner should then be responsible for rebuilding our education system. I do not believe jobs in education should be subject to work permit restrictions. The best person needs to be hired for the job regardless of where they are from. They should also be awarded bonuses based on exam results.
So bored of the school yard politics plaid by the PLP/OBA. We the people want results and don’t care about your ego’s.
Education here is a mess. You only have to see how people, specifically parents, write on public forum pages on social media to fear for the future. Allowing people who don’t have degrees but have ‘completed a course’ to be teachers doesn’t help. This is the #1 issue facing Bermuda today. If you can’t see this, I pray for you!
St. George’s Girl: Teaching capitalism without mentioning slavery and colonialism is false teaching not true education. I’m attracted to intelligence not education. You could graduate from the “best” most elite colleges but if your clueless about the world and society you do not know anything. Freedom From Mental Slavery/Facebook
Who mentioned capitalism, slavery and colonialism?! was talking about the basics. I witnessed someone admitting to having to google “black biro” after completing a passport application in blue ink. Stuff like “it’s a doggy dog world”. “Should of” instead of “should have”. If a generation of parents are struggling with things that a 10 year should know it does not bode well for future generations. How can you truly understand history if you barely have a grasp of reading and writing?
Thus far we are acting on rumour since the public have not been advised of any final recommendation.
One interesting fact would be to know who specifically was on the selection committee. Whilst we can quickly blame the OBA, we might be completely off base if ‘ordinary Bermudians’ made the recommendation without political interference from the government.
One important question is whether those who made the decision have entrusted their own children to the public school system?
Is it possible that the alleged selection of yet another non Bermudian to lead our education system is a reflection of the lack of confidence that the selection committee have in their own ability? Very often, Bermudians are their own obstacles.
To be more direct, does the members of the selection committee have confidence that a Bermudian can do the job or was there an inherent bias in the selection process?
PLP hired Dr. Edmond Heatley as commissioner, look where that went! And Fogo has the nerve to advise OBA?
http://bernews.com/tag/dr-edmond-heatley/
??? Does this mean those making these decisions are Smarter the those qualified, to do the job??? To date, decisions concerning education in this country lead me to believe that there is no group qualified to make DECISIONS regarding our FUTURE.
Went into a school recently and was astounded at how it was failing our children. Shocking. The teachers were not up to the grade. A shame this is all about self important educators and politicians. Get some new teachers. Answer to previous reports or you lose a generation.
They are teaching our children much Data having no consequence.
Cant blame children who get the short end of the stick but that of the antiquated system and the so called educators having a lack of moral obligation, academic skill and responsibility.
um mum !
Why is it that kids from dual parent homes where both parents work seem to be thriving in the public education system?
Put all the kids from Bermuda Institute into the public school system and they will thrive, same as WA kids, Saltus Kids, etc. It is not the system, unless you want the system to make up for the mistakes and lack of positive home environments that we have created (and yes there are systemic reasons for this).
The education system is not letting our culture down, our culture is letting the education system down.
More attempts to brainwash the sheeple!