Inos steps into Hopwood dilemma

Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos has stepped into the mediation process between the school administrators of the Hopwood Junior High School and a group of school personnel led by counselor Nariany Sikyang, according to Public School System associate commissioner David M. Borja.

This came even as Borja insisted that Hopwood “does not have a problem.”

Sikyang had filed a complaint against Hopwood principal Jim Brewer and vice principal Beth Nepaial last month for alleged harassment and racism.

Borja said that Inos and PSS personnel director Charlie Kenty met last week to discuss the extent of the mediation process. “They are still finishing up the mediation,” Borja said.

That mediation process hasn’t ended yet, said Borja, “so the commissioner and the leadership at Hopwood are asking for continuation this week.”

Just before Inos and Kenty met, Borja said there was a meeting between Brewer and Sikyang, where both parties were made to understand that there has to be a joint effort to resolve the situation.

Patty Mendoza, one of the four counselors at Hopwood, said that she could not say anything about the issue as all schoolteachers and staff have been advised by the legal counsel to refrain from doing so.

Sikyang, according to her, has been on leave since last week.

In a related story, Greg Cruz, a former school aide at Hopwood, followed up on his complaint against Brewer, which he filed last year. He accused the administration of breaching his contract; he claims that he was hired as a teacher aide, not school aide. Cruz said in his complaint that he was forced to perform tasks designated for security guards in school. Cruz presented his case to the PSS board last year.

Borja said the board cannot help Cruz now since he resigned from the school. He said he was the one who hired Cruz at that time when he was still Hopwood’s principal. He insisted that Cruz was hired as a school aide, not a teacher aide.

Borja said that as school aide, Cruz’s job description includes supervision during bus loading and unloading of students, taking care of the study hall, lunch halls and playgrounds. He was also tasked to assist teachers during field trips and extra-curricular activities. He was also responsible in the arrangement of classrooms for meetings and other assembly. As school aide he should run test materials and sheet for teachers and perform other related duties as assigned.

Borja said the task of providing security in school could fall on other tasks as assigned to him. He said this issue should be considered carefully. “We should take a look at the reasons behind all these things,” he said. (Marconi Calindas)