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There were no classes today at Delille Academy in Dangriga. That’s because the teachers and students stormed out of the classrooms in protest. According to the teachers, their principal is refusing to pay 4th form teacher Timothy Lewis for April. Lewis received a letter of termination on April 24th because his teacher’s license had expired in March. Lewis is demanding that he be paid for his service in April. Now while this sounds like an internal or an administrative matter, the teachers and students say they have had it with the principal and made their voices heard today. We spoke with Denise Flores-Henry who is the Staff Representative on the Board of Governors at the school and teacher Timothy Lewis himself via phone. Here is how they describe the situation.

Denise Flores-Henry - Staff Representative, Board of Governors, Delille Academy
"The decision was made because Mr. Timothy Lewis informed teachers and students that he has not been paid for the month of April and it was confirmed yesterday by the principal when she informed him in the staff room that he was not going to be paid for April so the students and teachers decided to show solidarity with Mr. Lewis by not being in the classroom today."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Okay and as you mentioned before this, all this started after Mr. Lewis’ teachers license expired in March or on March 19th right?"

Denise Flores-Henry
"Correct, his license expired, we are not questioning or trying to go against the education rules, we have absolutely no challenge there his license expired, one concern that the teachers are having is that we seem to have had some sort of unfairness here at the school because we are near the end of the school year we only have about 5 more weeks and we string believe that the principal could have written the commission asking or recommending that this teacher remain on staff especially since he is a 4th form teacher preparing students for CXC and we also have a huge event coming up next week, a Science fair  and one of the mina things the duration of time that is left, 5 weeks, so we believe the principal could have exercised some fairness and leniency."

"This is where it is not fair the principal had recommended that a teacher remain on staff after being unapproved by the Teaching Service Commission for an entire year."

Courtney Weatherburne
"The problem is that you were not, after you got your letter of termination you were not paid for the month of April right, is that the main issue?" 

Timothy Lewis - Teacher, Demanding Pay
"Yes because then I continued to do my work for the month of April because I was not aware of this letter, I didn’t receive it until the 24th after the Easter holiday but that whole time I was still going to class and doing what I was to do."

We called the principal at the school but she was unavailable, when we called again later on, there was no answer. In terms of Lewis’s expired license, he has asked for an extension for the rest of the year because he hasn’t finished his studies at UB as yet. He is working on a Bachelors in Biology Education and will be graduating in 2 years. He says he is committed to getting his degree as soon as possible but is just asking for some more time. Lewis says the school’s administration will meet tomorrow to decide on what the next step. Staff Representative Flores-Henry also sent a letter to the BNTU regarding what they call “a huge injustice being done to Mr. Timothy Lewis.â€￾