ONLY one week into the job Jamaica’s as chief education officer and already Grace McLean has made it clear that accountability will be her mantra.

“It is the time for it. We (the ministry) will be insisting on it; it will be my operational mantra, and believe me, we are going to have it…” said the woman, who will balance her new and demanding position with being mom, wife, choir member and netball co-ordinator.

She comes to the sector at a time when it is reeling from several crises, including illiteracy, poor academic performance, school violence and indiscipline, as well as underperformance of ministry functionaries.

McLean is undaunted.

“I met with some stakeholders today (Wednesday) and I have told them it is not business as usual. It is not going to happen. The three-year-old that we ignore today, 15 years later is creating mayhem all over the country. I am telling them that we are the crime fighters. If we had started 20 years ago to diligently focus on each child, we would not have the problems we have today…” she told Career & Education.

Coming from the front pew of the sector, with almost 20 years’ exposure, McLean comes prepared for clean-up operations.

Accountability appears to be her yardstick and in almost all of her sentences, she uses the word.

“What has happened is that systems continue to deteriorate and nobody cares. But we have to make education once again about the children. And all individuals responsible for making that happen will have to be accountable for everything they do. They have to live up to their mandate. It’s pretty simple, to me…” she said.

The establishment of the national parenting commission and the Parenting Act are on the front burner of achievables, because she believes that a “gunman does not want his children to become like him”.

“We have to get the parents to take responsibility and understand their roles when it comes to their children. We are looking at different initiatives, giving the parents books so they can help their children from birth to three years…” she said.

One such initiative is the Belmont Academy in Westmoreland, a centre of excellence which has parents signing an agreement between home and school, to ensure that their children attend school and are provided with all they require for active learning.

The has 268 children, 208 at grade seven and 60 at grade nine.

“The agreement is their solemn word and an appeal to their conscience about their children; let them take some responsibility for the development of their children,” she said.

The agreement cannot stand in a court of law, but McLean is not the typical civil servant. She thinks outside the box to find ways to get parents involved.

She does not operate behind piles of file jackets and tons of paperwork as is customary for many civil servants. In fact, throughout the interview she was busy on her laptop, working on other aspects of her job, while conscious that her 15-year-old daughter Eronica was just outside her door, doing her homework.

She beans, and showers praises on her husband Eron, who she calls “a model father and husband”, as well as her stepson, Orville, and daughter. She calls them her biggest achievement, and gets huge satisfaction from doing things with them and for them.

In the same breath, McLean expressed some amazement at individuals who have Blackberry (phones) but who are still printing diaries of events.

Not missing a beat, she goes back to the children. She wants to stem the negative flow.

“When they (children) come to us, we have to meet them half way and start there…” she said.

And McLean is no stranger to accepting responsibility.

At 40 years old, her professional life began at St Jago High school, then HEART Trust, (Garmex Academy) and Rockfort Vocational Training Centre, the Jamaica German Automotive School (JAGAS), Enterprise Based Training and Regional Programme Services before the executive offices of the education ministry.

She is a fast mover and is not accustomed to spending more than three years in any position, until HEART. In fact, she spent only four months as deputy chief education officer, before losing the deputy, to become the boss.

A detailed strategist, and systematic planner, 10 years ago she knew she would be chief executive officer (CEO) of something.

“I was thinking chief executive officer, you know, an executive CEO. But I had absolutely no idea it would be in education. And I certainly didn’t think chief education officer at all…” she laughed, but added seriously, “chief education officer is still a CEO…”

Her story began in Clarendon, rural Jamaica, where she grew up with six other siblings in the early 1970s. After losing her mother at two years old, she spoke lovingly of her dad, who raised her almost single handedly and is so proud of her achievements today.

A graduate of Edwin Allen Comprehensive High School in the parish, she described herself as a “typical Jamaican who struggled, but who enjoyed life in rural Jamaica”. Not a model student, McLean said she knew which teachers to give “trouble”.

Recognising early that education was important, outstanding results in external examination at high school saw her being admitted to the College of Arts Science and Technology (now the University of Technology) straight out of fifth form.

She pursued the diploma programme in technical education.

“I recognised from very early that I wanted a skill. I selected home economics because I realised I could now learn to cook and sew, and make all the pretty things for my home so if life is hard when I became an adult, I could always do it myself…” she said.

At St Jago, her then boss, Victor Edwards, told her that she was responsible, and accountable for the well-being of all plants on the school compound. Her job was to make sure that everyone did their job.

She took it very seriously, and it is perhaps that responsibility and accountability that has informed her professional life. Still, this is her biggest task yet.

“We have more than 250 education officers in the system and each officer has approximately 23 schools. We have some sectors that are very big, like the early childhood sector. But the system is designed to impact more than 650,000 children from early childhood to tertiary. So what it means is that if you are doing your part to ensure that those schools are transformed – deliberate strategies focusing on key areas, setting literacy and numeracy targets from each day, week, month, semester, year – if you are consistently doing that, you are going to see movement…” she reasoned. “That is what I have been doing – showing the education officers and regional staff, the faces of children. If we have each one, impacting one, we will see a difference. It is not rocket science. It is simple, and what I bring to the table is a simplistic approach to getting the work done…”

Added McLean: “There is nothing sophisticated about developing a criminal in Jamaica. There is nothing sophisticated in ensuring that a child becomes a leader in this country, except consistently doing the things that will ensure the development of that child to become a leader…” the new chief education officer said.

Against that background, there will be six or seven areas of focus.

Literacy and numeracy, as well as safety and security programmes head the list. Safety and security manuals have been prepared and distributed to schools, using school resource officers, and incorporating 87 deans of disciplines in secondary schools, McLean said.

The number of deans will be increased as more funding becomes available.

The citizenship programmes will assist children in forming and developing behaviour patterns that will make them good citizens who are proud of their country, she said, and behaviour transformation programmes have started at the primary level and are expected to continue throughout the children’s school life.

McLean noted that there is no excuse for the current levels of under performance in the system, and the “A” word is used again.

“My minister (Andrew Holness) and permanent secretary (Audrey Sewell) expect me to be accountable. The children expect us to guide them. I, therefore, ask the same thing of the persons whom I supervise. Do your jobs, and do it well. Otherwise…” she left that hanging, but her intent was clear.

The Education Act of 1980, which governs all aspects of public schools, as well as her job, will be upheld at all times, but McLean is cognisant that it is perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks to effectiveness. However, she would never trump due process.

“That must be upheld at all times,” she maintained.