Dear Source,
I am surprised and saddened that Mrs. Graham opted to write the type of letter she did to your paper. If she has a gripe with the Department of Education or with the school where she worked before, she should be specific and say that. But to broaden her statement, and to include my school, in her obvious intent at ridiculing the way things are in the colony, does not leave me amused. If Mrs. Graham really cares about the students to the extent that she claims, she would be here. Instead, she chose to leave them. She can be assured that they will get by, as well, without her.
I have teacher friends who migrated from the Caribbean to the U.S. They are not Nationally Certified professional educators, as Mrs. Graham is. Some have gone through hell there in both public and private schools, too. But many stayed, and have shown their mettle. Admittedly, some systems are run more efficiently than others. However, there is no perfect school system, in the U. S. or in the V. I. If there is one in the U. S. then why is Mrs. Graham here in the colony griping? Further, if Mrs. Graham is trying to convince the reading public that she was the "dame in shining armor" and the "bleeding heart teacher" rescuing the children here, she was not!
Mrs. Graham's statement about the class which had four teachers before she came to the rescue is false. That class had one teacher for the year before it was assigned to Mrs. Graham. She was the second teacher at the class. The teacher before Mrs. Graham left to accept a position at U. V. I. Interestingly, that same teacher used her breaks to come and work with Mrs. Graham, since Mrs. Graham was not familiar with the strategies for teaching the class. The class in question had three students. Quite often, at least one was absent. That left her with two students. There was not a single time that Mrs. Graham requested something from the administration, to enhance those children's learning, that she was denied.
For a teacher who was assigned to teach four students, and who wanted to give them so much, I was surprised at how frequently Mrs. Graham was absent from her class. Also, every afternoon she would almost beat the bell to get out of here. Despite her holding a national teacher certification, Mrs. Graham's interest in the school's programs appeared to have ended in her class with three students. Many teachers at the school, who are not Nationally Board Certified professional educators, gave so much more than Mr. Graham ever dreamed of giving, to all the students. We reached out to Mrs. Graham here at Gladys A. Abraham Elementary School. But I never thought she gave, or wanted to give, all she could have given.
The low-income setting where Mrs. Graham worked before was obviously different. She never really seemed happy here. I guess she'll be happier in that private school setting, which is probably closer to what she knows. Maybe, just maybe, there is more in her mortar than the pestle!
Witman Browne
St. Thomas
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