Broken Trust

After meeting with Willacey and the mother of child accusing Willacey of having an inappropriate sexual relationship, the Belmopan Baptist Church has placed Willacey on a 15 day suspension. Willacey will not be in school or on the pulpit. According to their policy, Willacey must be charged within these 15 days or he will be reinstated without prejudice. On the other hand, The Education and Training Act of 2010’s only child protection clause is that it is the responsibility of management…

Minister of Education, Hon. Patrick Faber has expressed concern about the situation and made a plea to the Baptist Church to “deal with the matter swiftly” but he also cautions that there is nothing the Ministry can do “to punish” the Baptist Church should they fail to comply with this request.

Hmmmmmmmmm…..why are we acting like we have never confronted this sort of situation before? By his own admission, the Minister stated that there are many instances of this type.  Why are there no safeguards in place against this kind of shit? What do you mean the Ministry can do nothing to protect our children in SCHOOL?????? All  students within a secondary school system should enjoy  the protective arm of the law and the Ministry of Education. What sort of message does this send to predators and victims? Why are we not charging him with rape of a minor since this relationship is over a year in duration, as already established by emails and texts? What happened to enforcing the sexual harassment laws???

I just feel like there is much hemming and hawing and wringing of hands that ultimately will lead to nothing.

Link to Channel 7 News: http://www.7newsbelize.com/printstory.php?func=print&nid=23248