No witch-hunt!

Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer

THE MINISTRY of Education has dismissed claims of a possible pattern of witch-hunting at two schools where the leadership of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) has held senior positions.

Speaking at a hastily convened press conference at the ministry's head office at Heroes Circle yesterday, Andrew Holness, education minister, said that schools that were headed by JTA presidents were not targeted in the undertaking of audits.

News surfaced in Parliament on Tuesday that the Buff Bay High School in Portland had been audited. Current JTA president Nadine Molloy was the former principal of the school.

An earlier audit at the Michael Stewart-led Porus High school in Manchester had triggered questions in Parliament late last year. Stewart is a past president of the JTA.

Holness told journalists on Friday that the audits done at the two schools headed by JTA presidents were coincidental.

Opposition Member of Parliament Dr Peter Phillips on Tuesday demanded answers from the Government as to why Porus High was included on the Public Accountability Inspectorate's list of institutions to be audited since it did not seem to have the same significance as other major projects that were the subject of inspection.

Alluding to the audit of Buff Bay High he said, "We need to know and be assured that we are not finding a pattern of witch-hunting."

President of the Association of Principals and Vice-Principals, Wentworth Gabbidon, on Thursday stayed clear of accusing the Government of ulterior motives, but told The Gleaner that he would want to know whether audits were conducted at other schools during the period of the two assessments.

"It is not the intention of the Ministry of Education to audit schools that were once the workplace of the presidents of the JTA, and I am certain that the JTA would have no objections if schools were audited because I believe that in general, everyone agrees that there must be accountability," Holness said.

He said while his department investigated Buff Bay High School based on information from the public, Porus was audited by the Ministry of Finance and his ministry had no prior knowledge of that audit.

Holness said the audit, which was done in the 2009-2010 financial year, was conducted before Molloy became head of the association.

One hundred and eight schools are audited yearly by the Ministry of Education.