LEGISLATORS and the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) on Wednesday arrived at a compromise which, if accepted by Parliament, will see two members being added to the composition of the appeal tribunal which is provided for in the 2022 JTC Bill.

The decision to add an attorney and a person representing the interest of parents was reached after hours of debate by the joint select committee reviewing the Bill on the appropriateness of multiple members of the teaching profession being on the tribunal.

Education Minister Fayval Williams — committee chair — and colleague Members of Parliament debated with head of the JTC Dr Winsome Gordon who pointed out that there were a backlog of cases when the tribunal was set up in 2008 and comprised an attorney, a member of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), and a retired educator as chair. She said matters have been on track since the composition was reconfigured to an attorney, a retired judge, and a representative of the JTA.

Williams had raised strong concerns about the absence of a parent representative. She also pointed out that there is a conflict in current configuration, whereby teachers who come before the tribunal are represented by the JTA, which sits on the three-person tribunal.

The education minister said she had always questioned the make-up of the tribunal. “If its matters of professional conduct of teachers, why wouldn’t you have an independent tribunal and not have two [teachers]. The status quo that existed has not been serving us well.”

Dr Gordon, too, said the original tribunal that was set up in 2008 comprising an attorney, a representative of the JTA, and a retired senior teacher as chair had not worked well.

Under section 65 of the 2022 Bill, the members of the tribunal should be a retired judge of a superior court, a retired teacher, and a representative of a recognised professional teaching body .

Williams maintained that tradition should not dictate the legal framework going forward. Furthermore, she is of the view that the tribunal should be asked to consider not just the matter of law, but also the severity of the issue before it. “In many cases across different boards, decisions are taken when you have issues happening at school and the case is appealed on a matter of law and it is thrown out, and the teacher goes back into their position, even if they commit an egregious act,” she said.