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<span style="font-weight: bold">Shaaira Alexis deemed a racist teacher in London
GRENADA TODAY - Week ending June 20th, 2009</span>
A black teacher from Grenada who was poisoned with whiteboard cleaning fluid by one of her own pupils has lost a fight for £700,000 in damages - and was branded a racist by a top judge.
Shaaira Alexis, 52, moved to London about eight years ago after heading the National Public Relations (NPR) outfit for the former Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government in Grenada. Alexis had told London's High Court her life would never be the same again after she unwittingly drank from a tampered water bottle.
But a judge rejected her bid Monday for compensation, and condemned the teacher, who had to be treated at hospital following the incident, for her behaviour in calling the pupil a white prostitute. Judge Roger ter Haar QC said he did not condone the disgraceful behaviour of the pupil but he accused the teacher of humiliating the girl, named only as Faye.
Turning down her bid for compensation, he criticised Miss Alexis, of Bermondsey, South London, for her own behaviour and described her as heavy-handed. Not only had she humiliated Faye by using racist language, she had done so in front of the whole class - a class with which she seems have had a difficult relationship in any event, he said. This language was used to an academic under-achiever whose sense of inferiority from under-achievement was likely to have been already increased by Miss Alexis heavy-handed approach to trying to get the best out of her pupils.
Miss Alexis downed the poison in February 2005 after the girl sneaked into her classroom at Brampton Manor School, in Newham, and contaminated her drinking water bottle. Giving evidence earlier this year she told how within seconds of taking two or three mouthfuls of water she felt intense burning in her throat and lips. After repeatedly vomiting, Alexis was treated at hospital and returned home later that day. She returned to school but lost her job in August 2006 because of her sickness record.
The Grenadian teacher had sought compensation from Newham Borough Council to cover lost earnings and pension entitlements, claiming that while the physical effects of the poisoning were relatively short-lived, the psychiatric impact ruined her prospects of promotion to head teacher or at least a departmental head. Lawyers for Miss Alexis said the school had put pupils and teachers at risk when a teacher entrusted the girl pupil with classroom keys.
But, dismissing her case Judge ter Haar, who had heard evidence from the girl, ruled the council blameless. He said that, although the girl may not have been a model student, there could be no excuse for Ms Alexis calling her a white prostitute as she put on makeup in class. <span style="font-weight: bold">I have no doubt that this happened.</span>..the significance of this cannot be understated, he said.
It is clear that, in this multi-racial school, it was rightly quite out of the question for any teacher, or student, to be allowed to act or speak in a racist manner without immediate and unequivocal condemnation. The judge said that although Miss Alexis was an intelligent, able, articulate and ambitious woman, her promotion prospects were not as good as she thought they were.
It is apparent that, before the incident, she was already experiencing difficulties in her relationships both with other members of staff and with some pupils,he said. Due to the shortage of teachers in core subjects in London, the London Borough of Newham sponsored Miss Alexis to obtain a working visa.
After arriving at Brampton Manor she enrolled on a Graduate Teachers Programme, wrote a novel and embarked on a Masters Degree course in Education at Cambridge University. Multi-cultural comprehensive school, Brampton Manor has 1,450 pupils and serves an area affected by widespread social deprivation in East Ham, with some of its pupils suffering serious personality problems.
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GRENADA TODAY - Week ending June 20th, 2009</span>
A black teacher from Grenada who was poisoned with whiteboard cleaning fluid by one of her own pupils has lost a fight for £700,000 in damages - and was branded a racist by a top judge.
Shaaira Alexis, 52, moved to London about eight years ago after heading the National Public Relations (NPR) outfit for the former Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government in Grenada. Alexis had told London's High Court her life would never be the same again after she unwittingly drank from a tampered water bottle.
But a judge rejected her bid Monday for compensation, and condemned the teacher, who had to be treated at hospital following the incident, for her behaviour in calling the pupil a white prostitute. Judge Roger ter Haar QC said he did not condone the disgraceful behaviour of the pupil but he accused the teacher of humiliating the girl, named only as Faye.
Turning down her bid for compensation, he criticised Miss Alexis, of Bermondsey, South London, for her own behaviour and described her as heavy-handed. Not only had she humiliated Faye by using racist language, she had done so in front of the whole class - a class with which she seems have had a difficult relationship in any event, he said. This language was used to an academic under-achiever whose sense of inferiority from under-achievement was likely to have been already increased by Miss Alexis heavy-handed approach to trying to get the best out of her pupils.
Miss Alexis downed the poison in February 2005 after the girl sneaked into her classroom at Brampton Manor School, in Newham, and contaminated her drinking water bottle. Giving evidence earlier this year she told how within seconds of taking two or three mouthfuls of water she felt intense burning in her throat and lips. After repeatedly vomiting, Alexis was treated at hospital and returned home later that day. She returned to school but lost her job in August 2006 because of her sickness record.
The Grenadian teacher had sought compensation from Newham Borough Council to cover lost earnings and pension entitlements, claiming that while the physical effects of the poisoning were relatively short-lived, the psychiatric impact ruined her prospects of promotion to head teacher or at least a departmental head. Lawyers for Miss Alexis said the school had put pupils and teachers at risk when a teacher entrusted the girl pupil with classroom keys.
But, dismissing her case Judge ter Haar, who had heard evidence from the girl, ruled the council blameless. He said that, although the girl may not have been a model student, there could be no excuse for Ms Alexis calling her a white prostitute as she put on makeup in class. <span style="font-weight: bold">I have no doubt that this happened.</span>..the significance of this cannot be understated, he said.
It is clear that, in this multi-racial school, it was rightly quite out of the question for any teacher, or student, to be allowed to act or speak in a racist manner without immediate and unequivocal condemnation. The judge said that although Miss Alexis was an intelligent, able, articulate and ambitious woman, her promotion prospects were not as good as she thought they were.
It is apparent that, before the incident, she was already experiencing difficulties in her relationships both with other members of staff and with some pupils,he said. Due to the shortage of teachers in core subjects in London, the London Borough of Newham sponsored Miss Alexis to obtain a working visa.
After arriving at Brampton Manor she enrolled on a Graduate Teachers Programme, wrote a novel and embarked on a Masters Degree course in Education at Cambridge University. Multi-cultural comprehensive school, Brampton Manor has 1,450 pupils and serves an area affected by widespread social deprivation in East Ham, with some of its pupils suffering serious personality problems.
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