KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former Opposition party senator Ruel Reid is not only set to return to the Senate when it resumes, but is expected to handle the portfolios of education, youth and information, as well.

Reid, the current principal of Jamaica College, seems to have made the biggest leap among the members of the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) cabinet, moving from the periphery of the shadow cabinet to become the party’s major spokesman on social issues in the new Senate.

However, he is not new to parliament and government having served as an advisor to current Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, who was Minister of Education 2007-2011.

Reid was appointed to the Senate by Holness in November, 2013, after the controversial removal of Arthur Williams and Dr Christopher Tufton, but resigned after the court ruled in favour of the two dismissed Senators in February, 2015.

Reid was born in St Elizabeth, attended the Balaclava Primary School and Munro College. He holds a Teachers’ Diploma in Business Education from Bethlehem Moravian College, a Bachelor of Science in Business Education and a Masters in Human Resource Management from Nova Southeastern University. 

Reid served at Munro College as Master Teacher and Housemaster from 1996 to 2006. He is a former President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association and has been principal of Jamaica College since 2006.

Balford Henry