Dr Evans Has ‘Not Received’ Termination Letter
[Updated with Minister's statement & Rebuttal from Dr Evans' lawyer] Dr. Freddie Evans — who was appointed in March 2017 — has been “relieved of his duties as Commissioner of Education,” the Ministry has confirmed.
The statement said, “The Ministry of Education can confirm that Dr. Freddie Evans has been relieved of his duties as Commissioner of Education.
“However, the Ministry would like to assure the public that an interim plan is being put in place until the Board of Education commences a recruitment process.”
Update 10.20pm: Minister of Education and Workforce Development Diallo Rabain said, “While I am aware that the position of the Commissioner of Education is now vacant, it is important to note that myself as Minister of Education has no responsibility for operations, human resources or hiring at the Ministry or Department of Education.
“This Government is serious about progressing public education in Bermuda and, as such, supports the Board of Education and the Public Service Commission in their efforts to employ the most suitable people to lead our public schools. All public servants should be commended for their dedication to supporting our students and we thank Dr. Evans for his work.
“The Department and the Ministry have many committed individuals who are passionate about effectively transforming Bermuda’s public education system. I encourage the community to support them as they work to ensure the best education for our students.”
Update Oct 3, 2.20pm: Dr Evans is now being represented by a lawyer and has objected to the Education Ministry’s statement that he was “relieved of his duties as Commissioner of Education,” saying that the only person who can dismiss Dr Evans is the Governor, and he has not received any communication from the Governor, nor has he received a letter of termination or dismissal.
“To date our client has not received any letter of termination/dismissal,” his lawyer notes, saying that the only person who can terminate “our client’s employment is the Governor and this can only be done during his period of probation.
“We can confirm, and it is not in dispute, that our client’s probationary period expired on 30 September 2017. We can further confirm that our client has not received any communication from the Governor, whether written or oral, nor any individual acting on his behalf. ”
The lawyer notes “we are instructed to issue proceedings against the Ministry and the Governor for declarations that our client’s employment has not been terminated in accordance with his contract or at all. “
Wow. Why? He seemed to be doing a good job.Why?
Wow, just how bad do you have to be to be ‘relieved’ from a government job. And not just any government job; the Dept. of Education.
Who signed the pink slip?
Sad for our students. Dr. Evans had a huge task at hand and was putting a great strategic plan together that a lot of people have put an awful lot of time and effort into. He listened and was approachable – as a parent of 2 students in the public school system I truly appreciated what Dr Evans was doing. No he was not going to solve this overnight or even on his own but, he was making some progress. There is a lot that needs to change at the ministry of education…. but I don’t think a change in Commissioner was one of them.
Let’s see how long it takes before the handpicked successor is put in place.
Hope it isn’t someone who was relieved of duties at their particular school.
Translation?
If you cant run your own school, how are they supposed to run all the schools?
I will be quite upset if it is one individual who as you say was relieved of command at a certain central school.
Agreed!!!Let alone make sense in front of the masses.
Is this yet another example of “Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic” within our Department of Education?
Bermuda’s own monolithic organisation full of complexity, fiefdoms, and bureaucracy that has a stranglehold on public education without clear signs of accountability for decades.
Where are we on our strategic planning process underway and how will this leadership change impact the hard work of all who have participated?
Much will be revealed with the next person appointed and their progress on our public education of our population. There are many reasons we continue to witness a constant flight of students to our private system.
What can our private system teach our public education system?
Wow! Scape goat… Dr. Evans was well on his way to getting things moving in a good direction. Maybe he will speak out on this to set the record straight as it seems like a lot of bullying going on in Government these days, and only the good ones being forced out – why? Where they on the verge of making it tough for the non-performers? Who is being protected and who is doing the protecting? Why?
how about Child and Family Services? good housecleaning needed
I am ready for the next election
And so the revolving door at the Department of Education continues…… How many educators How many ministers? Sad. Too many political fingers in the education of our children?
“While I am aware that the position of the Commissioner of Education is now vacant, it is important to note that myself as Minister of Education has no responsibility for operations, human resources or hiring at the Ministry or Department of Education.
Huh?
What exactly do you have responsibility for then?
A PLP supporter back in March, when Dr. Evans was hired:
“I would expect Dr. Evans, who has spent decades in our public system teaching and mentoring children (both in the classroom and on the basketball court as I can personally attest to), as a Bermudian to have a far greater and vested interest in seeing public education move forward, as well as have his pulse on the community and kids in a way someone from the outside would not. If he’s spent the past several months acting, unless he was proving himself incapable during that tenure I’m not sure why the search needed to expand overseas anyway. I understand the concept that we need the best person for a job and that’s not necessarily a local in all cases, but we seem to have cultivated a mentality in Bermuda that foreign expertise is inherently superior to home-grown talent.”
It is now October of the same year.
Let the games begin…it is all happening again…
The ‘super human’ challenge for Dr. Evans will be his personal decision to remain at the Dept. of Education and champion the strategy that is already underway.
This is a time for a serious self reflection to determine whether he can genuinely sacrifice self and serve the longterm interests of the children.
Dr. Evans is a genuine person with demonstrated commitment to education.
These circumstance will show the ‘true measure of the man’ we know as Dr. Evans.
Too many philosophies in Public Education, and too many seeking a title. Privatize Public Education.
This Ministry is on BIG MESS! All friends and family! Someone must’ve fallen out of friendship and was successful with getting him back in return for something he must’ve done wrong. Just a mess..they better not put that other nut in his place!
OUR CHILDRENS LIVES MATTER.
We want solutions not excuses.
The fulfillment of every young persons education regardless as to which school they attend the end result should be of the highest priority as every young persons future and that of our country depends on it.
The national goal for every young person leaving school should be that our children should become self suporting ; intelegent; and productive individuals ; and not shown the side walk with the excuse given for some, “OH! they sliped through the cracks.”
The Bermuda education system will continue to fail our young people until the roots of the problems are effectively dealt with , and that is not the teachers pay packet, placing blame or pushing the problem under the carpet which has being hapening for years, make me wonder why some of our children fail .
Bermuda like every country has its own diverse economy, our children should be able to fit in to that economy.
We need to start pampering our children by givng them reasons to pursue their education in all its diverse forms.
The buck not always stops at the top, it is the countries problem as every one must play a part, our children are not robots to be programmed in to one size fits all, failing to realize the individuality of each and every young persons learning ability is a big mistake.
Show and tell not tell and sho,. justify the cause.
Not every young person is cut out be a Banker or a carpenter conversely not every one has the same learning ability when the educators discover those differences we will be more than half way to solving the problems.
Language is initially taught in the home
IT ALL STARTS FROM HOME.