TTUTA calls for due process, not social media trial for Holy Name principal

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) is urg­ing the pub­lic to al­low of­fi­cial in­ves­ti­ga­tions to take their course rather than en­gag­ing in what it de­scribed as a “tri­al” on so­cial me­dia, amid the con­tro­ver­sy sur­round­ing Holy Name Con­vent Port of Spain prin­ci­pal Sis­ter Re­nee Hall.

In a state­ment to­day, TTUTA said com­plaints in­volv­ing ed­u­ca­tors should be han­dled through the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion and the Teach­ing Ser­vice Com­mis­sion.

“While TTUTA ac­knowl­edges the con­cerns be­ing ex­pressed, we do not sup­port the tri­al of in­di­vid­u­als in the court of pub­lic opin­ion or on so­cial me­dia plat­forms, where un­ver­i­fied in­for­ma­tion can un­fair­ly dam­age the rep­u­ta­tion and pro­fes­sion­al stand­ing of ed­u­ca­tors,” the union said.

TTUTA al­so said it does not con­done “vi­o­lence, abuse or any form of in­ap­pro­pri­ate con­duct with­in our schools un­der any cir­cum­stance.”

“The safe­ty, well­be­ing and dig­ni­ty of stu­dents and staff must al­ways re­main para­mount,” the state­ment added.

The union said all mat­ters should be ad­dressed “through the prop­er chan­nels, with fair­ness, con­fi­den­tial­i­ty, due process and re­spect for all par­ties in­volved.”

TTUTA said it is await­ing the out­come of the on­go­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions.

The state­ment fol­lows days of back­lash on­line af­ter for­mer and cur­rent stu­dents ac­cused Sis­ter Re­nee of emo­tion­al abuse and mis­treat­ment fol­low­ing a Moth­er’s Day pro­file cel­e­brat­ing her 25-year ca­reer at the school.

The con­tro­ver­sy prompt­ed Holy Name Con­vent Port of Spain’s board of man­age­ment to an­nounce an in­de­pen­dent in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the al­le­ga­tions.