~ Executive Director appointed at NIPA ~
CAY HILL--The board of National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) has not followed the advice of Education Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs to “retract” its “unjust” and “unwarranted” dismissal letter served to Director Vernon Richards.
The Daily Herald understands that Richards’ dismissal has not been retracted and that Richards is no longer at the institution. Efforts to reach the board last night proved futile.
An executive director has been appointed at NIPA in the meantime. The executive director is said to be former Milton Peters College (MPC) educator E. Richardson.
In a firm letter to the board in early June the minister had said Richards’ dismissal was premature and was against the country’s labour regulations. She said at the time that she was seriously concerned about the matter.
“At this point I am of the opinion that this dismissal is premature, as the reasons given are unjustifiable and even considered against the existing labour and dismissal regulations. With this in mind, I therefore urgently advise your reconsideration of this decision,” Bourne-Gumbs had said in her letter.
She said she had been faced for several months with the controversial issues surrounding operations at NIPA, had considered her interventions carefully and had attempted to facilitate ways to address the issues constructively via the Ministry.
“I am hereby advising the board to retract the dismissal letter to Mr. Richards to avoid yet more negative publicity around what I consider to be unjust and unwarranted reasons and the application of inappropriate measures and dismissal procedures,” she said in her letter. She said at the time that she hoped the board would take her request into serious consideration.
The board dismissed Richards via letter with immediate effect in June over “non-compliance” with the board’s directives regarding an open house scheduled for early June, amongst other things.
In its dismissal letter to Richards dated June 10, the board accused Richards of not complying with its decision concerning an open house dated April 24 and with e-mail instructions and a telephone call by Advanced Vocational and Adult Education Board Chairman Marcella Hazel to cancel an “unapproved” open house on June 11.
The board also said Richards had failed to provide it with a programme for the open house “for the board to ascertain” whether the programme was suitable and proper protocol was in place. The board said too that the director was non-compliant in providing the board with the list of invited guests and a copy of “the letters of cancellation sent out.”
According to the dismissal letter, these matters were reasons to call an urgent meeting with Richards on Wednesday, June 10. The board said Richards’ “persistent refusal to carry out a reasonable instruction of postponing the open house scheduled for June 11, 2015, leaves the board with no other alternative but to dismiss you immediately from your function.”
