Youth advocate and Police Sergeant Zachary Hippolyte is standing with the Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School (LHCSS), amid a controversy that has flared up over an apology from students who posted an expletive-filled video on social media.
Hippolyte took to Facebook to take issue with adults whom he said were calling on the school to apologize for one of the measures the learning institution took in response to the viral video of the students in uniform.
“I cannot believe that some adults are calling for Leon Hess Secondary school to apologize. Apologize for what? Talking about the students being humiliated and traumatized because the school instructed them to do a video apology and post it on social media,” he wrote.
According to Hippolyte, the students humiliated themselves when they posted the video with profanity and lewd dancing at school and in school uniform.
He asserted that the lewd student video could have long-lasting consequences even for future employment.
But Hippolyte noted that the later video with the apology can remedy the bad perception.
“This world is definitely upside down. Or maybe some people are seeking 5 minutes of fame on news,” he lamented.
PCI Media Communication Officer Bennet Charles had declared on national television that taking someone’s child, filming them making an apology, and posting it on the same social media blamed for youth decay added to the trauma the students experienced.
At the same time, Charles agreed with stripping the students in the lewd video of their responsibilities as prefects and peer helpers.
However, he told DBS Television that a school should never be where an administration humiliates students, which had apparently occurred.
Charles asked who would hold the LHCSS accountable for videotaping the student apology without the parents’ consent and posting it on social media.
In addition, he questioned the reason for the videotaped apology.
And Charles urged a Ministry of Education probe and apology to the parents and students on behalf of the principal.
Alternatively, he indicated that the LHCSS principal should issue the apology.
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Those kids humiliated themselves, putting a reputable learning institution under tremendous scrutiny. The video of what they did was in very poor taste. They should have been given stiffer punishment for such a lewd act.
KEEP QUIET. They should not even be allowed to graduate or maybe expelled from school.
The hypocrisy of some ppl. It was ok for those children to their their video n post it on Facebook but it wasn’t for the school to asked them to do an apology n post it. The school owes them no apology n I applaud the principal of the school with his actions against those children. The sad thing about this whole situation is that peter is paying for Paul
St. Lucians consuming too much US (western) media and this is the by-product. Lewd and inappropriate conduct by young people and victimhood by the adults.
Saint Lucia has slipped to its current crime level partly because of poor thinkers with a mike, like Bennet Charles. And if these individuals are allowed to continue in this vein, Saint Lucia will surely perish.
What was wrong with the school forcing an apology from the students and using the same medium which they used, to air it. After all, the zero rated video was made in school uniform and supposedly on school time, so what permission would the school need from parents to take such action. NONE!! The administration of the school should be applauded for their decision which might have been life changing in a positive way for those kids.
Well said Mr. Hippolyte. Mr. Charles and his foolish statement makes no sense.
Mr charles u need to take a sit and let the administration of L.H.C.S.S handle this because under Mr. Ellis in my years at Hess I would not even graduate if my year did that. So allow Mr. Lubon to continue the legacy of disciplinary and good conduct of his student as they wear the L.H.C.S.S crest.
Well they learn their bad habits from what going on in our House of Parliament
This is the second time this is happening in our school system if I can recall. In 2020 during Covid the Ministry was trying to implement online learning as Covid changed the way we all do things. There was a project developed and implemented so school children could stay home and communicate with their school online. It may not have been the best most effective way of teaching but it was sure the only way it could have gotten done to avoid covid. Infact, it was way to co-existing with covid.
This time around, a few school kids decided to develop a video and with the available technology which exist today, it did not take long to move from local to international. This is the norm today – nothing remains local. This includes the bedroom activities as well. The language was not acceptable by some double standards which are still local.
The questions remain, Which rule did these kids violate in both scenarios ? What controls were in place to prevent those kids from breaking the rules ?
In the first scenario, a project of this magnitude – a national project which are being implement nationally, what were the test scenarios to avoid situations like this at the ministry. Did anyone test the scenarios ? Did they take into consideration that anything online is open to the public unless there are security measures in place. What security measures did they implement ? Well, while everyone was looking for those kids to bring them to justice or to crucify them, I only wanted to meet with them to shake their hands and tell them – job well done. Someone one at the ministry needed to be fired for such an incident and I would advocate for the project manager and all the testers to be fired for this. The technical team should have been replaced right away. The kids who hacked the system should have given a job and replace all the testers so going forward they would be given the scenarios and ask them to hack the system if they can – that would be a good test.
For the Leon Hess issue, personally, my kid would not apologize if he or she was involved. First, I would want to know the rule which was broken and what control was in place to prevent it from happening. The world has changed and so is St. Lucia. We cannot assume that everyone would behave the way we want. No one should be living under assumptions. We need to set the rules and also put controls in place to prevent it from happening – do not rely on the goodness of people. Creating a video and adding a few words which start with “F” is not enough for me to apologize. The teachers at the school should be held accountable. Why were the kids left on their own for such long time to create a video. Cell phones are not allowed at the school, what controls are in place to prevent it. I hope it is just a rule – no one follows the rules.
St. Lucia needs to wake up and start to live in 2023.
The school cannot force a student to make a video apology without parental consent ……..Iam just at aww about some of the stuff posted here, not allowing the children to graduate, blah blah blah, they won’t get a job……..so who’s reputation is it at stake the students or the institution. Some have even question “American Social Media ” on St Lucia youth oh my like in this day age k can get away from that. Like Really?? I am not defending this kind of lewd behavior, different times different era am I am grown enough to understand the difference, but ñ wishing these children should be outcast in society, Lord knows we have enough people here that has done a lot worst in their school days and are now productive contributors to society.
It’s unsurprising that some persons have taken issue with the school administration’s response. These days it seems like right is wrong, wrong is right and everything has gone topsy turvy. These students are the future of this country and if this is how we want our future depicted then, we have a rough road ahead. These students humiliated themselves. Had the video been leaked I would have put this to a lapse in judgment, but they recorded and posted the video themselves. They clearly saw nothing wrong with what they did and this is worrisome. Blaming the school’s response is a clear indication and support of what’s happening in our country right now.