OUTGOING chairman of the Jamaica College (JC) Foundation, Christopher Williams is insisting that the name of the school needs to be kept out of any personal lawsuits, saying that the institution and none of its stakeholder groups are involved in the “sordid affair” that has been unfolding over the last three years.

Williams, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, says individuals associated with the school have engaged the court on personal matters that the school is not party to and is damaging to its brand.

“There are some individuals that have been or are currently still members of the Jamaica College fraternity in their professional capacities that are involved in various suits, but those are individual names. That’s between them. [In] any personal suits leave Jamaica College’s name out of it,” he told the
Observer on Sunday.

He was referring to the ongoing court battle between Acting Principal of JC Wayne Robinson and former president of JC Old Boys’ Association (JCOBA), Major Basil Jarrett, which now involves more individuals. In 2022 Robinson had brought a lawsuit against Jarrett, alleging that $3 million from the sale of school uniforms — which were given to the association in a fund-raising effort — were misappropriated.

However, last month Supreme Court judge Justice Opal Smith rejected Robinson’s suit on the grounds that he had no standing to bring such a claim in his personal capacity as principal of the school, and that Major Jarrett was not a proper party to the claim as at all times he was acting as president of JC Old Boys’ Association.

Since then 10 members of the board, including Robinson, have filed defamation suits against Jarrett.

On April 4 Jamaica College (JC) old boys staged a protest raising concern about the mismanagement of affairs at JC and demanding the resignation of Lance Hylton as chairman of the school board.

According to Williams, who resigned as trustee in March and chairman of the foundation effective June 30, pursuing court proceedings against Major Jarrett is not worth it and is an ill-advised business move – both in terms of the cost as well as the “licks” the school would endure by association.

“I feel that we, the leaders of the school, the various chairmen over the last three years throughout this entire ordeal, made a bad business decision. It’s not worth it. I did my equation and it’s not worth the cost, so I’m not interested. I’m not supporting it. I initially donated money personally; I regret that decision. But I’m not supporting it any further; I think it’s a bad business decision. But if Wayne wants to pursue it, and if these nine individuals want to pursue the defamation against Basil, that is up to them. Good luck to them,” he said.

Added Williams: “All I’m saying is, as a businessman — and every lawyer will tell you this — you have to balance the cost of the proceedings versus the outcome that you seek, and [then] determine if it is still an equitable balance. I thought that it’s not an equitable balance, that the cost — not just [the] financial [cost] direct[ly] in terms of just paying legal fees and so on, but the brand association and the hits that the brand would take and has taken — [all make it not worth it].”

But amidst the turmoil unfolding with the parties associated with JC, Williams is assuring that the school “is fine”. He noted that the structures in place need a little tweaking and tightening, “but by and large they are working extremely well and I don’t see the need for large-scale panic”.

“What we must do is continue to stress test our governance structures — that’s what allows us to dominate for 200 years. It’s not the people, it’s not the individuals, clearly it’s the structures that we have that’s why Jamaica College is Jamaica College.

He said the structures are the school’s trust that has trustees; the school board; the fund-raising arms, and those fund-raising and stakeholder relationship arms are the parent-teacher association (PTA), all four JCOBA chapters, and the foundation.

Williams said he resigned as a trustee because he felt that the trust needed to improve its governance in terms of reporting, trust meetings, minutes, et cetera, noting that this lax structure helped to spark the unfolding saga.

“I thought that the trust needed to improve and lead the school. It is the trust that should ensure all the entities are operating within their guidelines.

“So, we have to manage that. And when we allow that, there must be sufficient reporting on how the use of the brand performed in financial reporting so that we can just make sure we are dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s — and that’s a very fundamental point. I think most high schools haven’t tightened that up. We are in the process of tightening that up. That’s essentially what caused the initial fallout with the JCOBA and the school, and it’s not an unreasonable ask. All the stakeholders now have agreed to abide by that ask and ensure that there’s proper reporting,” he said.

He stressed that all JC old boys must continue to police and make sure that “not a dollar from the schol’s slush funds are used to support the individual lawsuits — no money from the school, no money from the trust, no money from the foundation, no money from the PTA, no money from the JCOBA chapters, that’s it. So as long as JC is not involved, which it’s not, and JC’s money has not been touched to support either side, we’re good.”

Williams said he had sent a message to the current chairman of the trust to ask the principal and the chairman of the board not to comment on these suits because Jamaica College is not involved.