Robinson finally gets JC’s top job
Long-serving acting principal's appointment retroactive to September 1, 2022
AFTER some eight years acting as principal of Jamaica College (JC) Wayne Robinson has finally been confirmed in the post.
The Jamaica Observer yesterday confirmed that in an August 2 letter to Lance Hylton, chairman of the JC board, the Ministry of Education indicated that Robinson has been given the job at the prestigious all-boys school. His appointment is retroactive to September 1, 2022.
Robinson has been acting in the position since 2016 when then principal, Ruel Reid, was seconded to serve as minister of education after he was appointed to the Senate.
The post of principal of the Old Hope Road-based school officially became vacant in November 2021 when Reid, then facing criminal charges, resigned, as the special leave he had been granted expired.
Reid had already resigned from the Cabinet after allegations of fraud were levelled against him.
In July 2023, Reid filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against Jamaica College Trust and Jamaica College Foundation, claiming that he was owed some $28 million, including interest.
He argued that certain incentives, which had been agreed when he was the principal of JC, should be paid to him even during the period he was absent from the school on secondment to assume the role of minister of education and on special leave.
The Jamaica College Trust subsequently agreed to pay Reid $3.3 million in an out-of-court settlement.
But even as the Reid drama dragged out, the JC board advertised the vacant principal post, and following interviews, Robinson was recommended to the Teachers’ Services Commission as the man for the job.
At that time the education ministry hinted that an appointment to fill the vacant principal post was being delayed because of an audit that was being done at JC, inspired or influenced by allegations that were submitted to it.
“We’re also treating with that with the board. We have done the audit by the ministry’s audit team, we have provided to the institution the findings, and, [as] per usual, the school is supposed to respond to the audit queries, submit that to us, and then we will work with the institution for the matters that have come up as concerns to be addressed,” acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Youth, Dr Kasan Troupe, told a post-Cabinet media briefing in May.
She told the media briefing that once the issues are settled, “as we have communicated to the [JC] board, then the minister will give her instructions on the matter”.
Robinson has also been involved in an ongoing quarrel with some members of the JC Old Boys’ Association and a lawsuit with its former president, Major Basil Jarrett.
