ISR recently
received an email from, Lavinia Schlebusch, a teacher
at Future at Bilingual School Kuwait. In her email,
Lavinia
explained she had returned to her home country
for the summer months and
soon after received an email from
her school in which they requested her apartment
key.
Lavinia soon understood the school was planning
to move her out of her own apartment and into shared
housing. The previous
administration
had
provided
Lavinia with a private apartment but, in her absence,
the incoming administration was requesting she
consent to a new arrangement and agree to live with
a
roommate in a different apartment. Lavinia protested
and Future Bilingual International School
countered
with
a notice
of dismissal. Lavinia then contacted
Dr. Spilchuk and the negations began. We have posted
the major correspondences below. What would you
do if this happened to you? See
posted opinions
____________________________________
|
August
20th - Lavinia Writes to ISR Asking for Advice:
Dear ISR,
Please can you help me with a query?
In April I took up a position as a KG2 English Teacher
for the privately owned Future Bilingual School
in Fahaheel, Kuwait; owner Mr Ghazi
Al Dabbous.
At the end of June I renegotiated
my contract for a salary increase and reiterated
my opposition to having
a room mate and to shared accommodation. At the time
I negotiated with my then Vice Principal, Mr Rob Brice
Bruce and the owner's representative,
Mr Kumar.
My salary request was agreed to
as was the issue of me not having to share accommodations,
I signed my contract
and went on my summer vacation back to South Africa
taking with me my key to my apartment.
I wrote back stating under no circumstances
were they to enter my apartment and that the courteous
thing
to do would be for them to wait until I returned and
then I would move to other teacher accommodations.
They agreed.
However, they are now insisting
that I resign myself to the fact that I'm to have
a roommate and that it's
a fellow South African and therefore I shouldn't
have any trouble getting along with them and we can
cozily share the space. This, despite my repeated objections
to not wanting to share with anyone. I'm
a 40 year old woman used to having my own space and
running my own home.
In my current contract, concerning
the issue of housing, all it says is that the "First
party
shall maintain free housing" The new director
then said that if I insisted on not sharing I would
need
to fork
out
an
additional
125
KD of my own money for private accommodation. This
is the equivalent 443.999 USD a month.
My question is, what are my options?
I had a verbal agreement with Kumar not to share and
now that has been pushed aside.
They want an answer from me
by Wednesday to say I agree to shared accommodation
before they will issue
me with my air ticket. With hindsight I see I should
have gotten the wording in my contract changed but
I was still a newbie (to Kuwait and international teaching)
and so took Kuma's word at face
value.
I could do with some help and insight; please can
you tell me legally where I stand and what I ought
to do?
Thank you.
Lavinia Schlebusch
____________________
Lavinia
Receives a letter from Future Bilingual, Requesitng
She Agree to the Terms of the Contract. Lavina
Writes
Back:
Dear Ms Rahal.
Good day to you.
As it is still Wednesday in my part of the world I
feel my 'deadline' has not yet expired.
Be that as it may. According to the terms of my contract, I was to have my own
accommodation. This was discussed at length with Mr Kumar.To which he agreed.
I have Mr Rob Bruce
as a witness to this.
Therefore this is not a case of
my accepting or not accepting the contract. It is a
case of you changing the terms of
that contract.
Surely this is illegal in any country. I would like
time to consult with legal experts in Kuwait before
commenting any further on this matter.
To my mind, I am still expecting
a ticket to Kuwait, separate accommodation and all
other aspects of the contract
into which I entered with the Al Faisel Establishment
through Mr Kumar.
I am further more committed to the children whom I
undertook to teach and to fulfilling my end of the
contract.
The fact that I would be required to share with a fellow
South African and that "therefore it wouldn't
be too much of an adjustment", is not the issue.
I was told I wouldn't have to share, period.
It is the school that has reneged on it's word to me,
not I to it.
I will leave this with you till Saturday and await
your response.
Respectfully Yours,
Lavinia Schlebusch
____________________
Future
Bilingual School Responds by Terminating Lavinia's
Teaching Contract:
Dear Ms Lavinia,
As per my last correspondence, you were to confirm
your acceptance or non-acceptance of the position with
Al Faisel Educational Establishment by Wednesday; which
is today.
You have not responded. Therefore, I will take this
as you are not prepared to accept the conditions of
the contract; especially in regards to accomendation.
I wish you the best in all your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Hana Abou Rahal
____________________
Lavinia
and Debbie Dixon, the New Vice Principal of
Future Bilingual, Correspond:
Dear Ms. Dixon.
You emailed me on Tuesday 28th of August 2007. (Following
is a copy of your email)
Dr.
Spilchuk has Been Working Behind the Scenes to
Mediate the Situation. She writes to Lavina to
Relate what Progress has Been Made.
Hi Lavinia
I've had contact from Debbie Dixon who is the new
Assistant Principal of FBS. She indicated to me that
the school would like to mediate the situation for
you. These are the areas she has offered:
1. Teachers have the option of a surcharge to secure
single housing. Was this made clear to you before
you left Kuwait in June? If not, FBS is offering
this condition to you so that you can secure single
housing. (Note: The surcharge is 443.999 USD a
month.)
2. Is there some issue with the airline tickets?
She mentioned that you have a concern with the tickets
they have offered to provide you.
I know Debbie Dixon personally. She is a highly ethical
and collegial individual. She worked for me when
I was in Kuwait and has just recently accepted the
administrative position with FBS. They are very lucky
to have her.
As a matter of note, Debbie has had to work through
her own mountains in the Kuwait International School
System, so you can be assured that she understands
when there are extreme situations of unfairness at
stake. I wonder if you might not be able to negotiate
directly with her your issues of concerns. She seems
very open to that suggestion. Would you like to try
that route?
Cheers,
Barbara
____________________
Lavinia
Replies to Dr. Spilchuk:
“Dearest Barbara.
Thank you for your recent mail, re: the issue with
FBS and my accommodation saga ...
Let me compile what correspondence I have had with
her, Ms Rana and the school and send that to you,
and then you can advise what you think may be the
best route to take.
Of course I am open to mediation, I'm not unreasonable
and at no point have I taken this thing personally
- bar with Mr. Kumar who blatantly seems to have
misrepresented the truth to me.
As I don't know Ms Dixon at all I will take your
word on her integrity, and welcome the opportunity
to have this resolved amicably.
____________________
Without any Conclusion
to the Incident or Further Correcpondence Future Bilingual
Sends Return Air Tickets to Lavinia
Dear Ms Lavinia,
I am forwarding your ticket details to you. You just
need to print out the attached itinerary and take
it with you to the airport. We expect that you will
honor your contract.
I will meet you at the airport and take you to the
new teacher apartments.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
I look forward to meeting you.
Debbie Dixon
____________________
Confused,
Lavina writes to Debbie Dixon, concerning the
flight tickets
I don’t wish to be pedantic
but nothing has been resolved as yet. This is all
a bit of a surprise
to me, namely the speed with which you have responded.
I think you ought to have
spoken to me first – or
emailed me before going ahead with the booking. To,
at the very least, see if it was convenient for me
to travel on Saturday the 1st of September? Which,
as it happens it isn’t. I was going on our previous
correspondence and have subsequently made other plans
for the coming week.
From my side the matter is far from resolved. I was
going to ask Barbara to see all the correspondence
and then decide how best FBS, you and I could forge
ahead?
I’m sorry Ms Dixon;
I need to know where I stand on this issue. Nothing
has been said to me, I now feel
that I need some assurances in place before I embark
on any flight to Kuwait.
I realize you are just trying
to do your job, and that you must have been thrust
into the deep end with
all of this. Please, at no time was this ever personal – bar
my opinion of Mr. Kumar, whom I now find to be very
unethical and wonder if anything he says can carry
any merit with me again.
Be that as it may, I am trying to accommodate you
and FBS, but I am also very adamant that I will be
looking out for my own interests first, and that I
will not be Shanghaied into any quick agreements, verbal
or otherwise.
My main concern still remains the issue of single
accommodation, as it was promised to me, but which
we now seem to have a difference of opinion as to how
the contract, or the wording and meaning thereof, should
be interpreted.
I really do not wish to mess
you around, and I do appreciate the tremendous pressure
you must be under
to get everything in place before school starts, but
I’m not going to be pressurized into accepting
anything unless we have all spoken. And by that I mean
you, FBS and ISR as represented by Barbara.
I need to make a few phone calls,
see what my feelings on the matter are, but above all
I really do need to
hear from ISR first. I will be in contact with you
as soon as I have resolved my concerns and fears
about this whole matter and my return to Kuwait.
I do appologise for any inconvenience I may have caused
you personally.
But I equally feel that I have not
been treated very well by FBS and I do not want a repeat
of this saga,
in any way, shape or form. Maybe you can appreciate
my concerns, maybe not, but the fact remains
I have some serious reservations about FBS and the
conduct
of the owner as to how he treats his staff.
With regards.
Lavinia Schlebusch
____________________
Lavinia
Writes Dr. Spilchuk Concerning the Air Tickets
to Kuwait:
Dearest Barbara.
So much to tell you, but suffice to say there is still
an impasse with FBS.
Briefly, the situation with the housing has not been
resolved, they are not going to budge. And so I'm halfway
there to accepting their decree to share as it seems
as if I have no option.
This would not be my first choice.However a more pressing
need has since arisen.
When I received the email from Rana telling me that
since I had not accepted their terms they took it to
mean that I was no longer interested in the position,
and that they wish me well, etc, etc. At this stage
thinking our relationship had been severed I then took
on some other work.
As such I am busy this entire week and notified Ms
Dixon of this. I cannot get out to Kuwait until the
13th as I've given my word to finish what I took on
when I thought it was over with FBS and me.
The most recent email from Ms Dixon was to inform me
that I need to be in Kuwait by the 5th as school starts
on the 9th and that they simply cannot wait for me
till the 13th. Implying I assume that if I do not agree
to this our relationship is finally severed. I would
be late by one week to take up my position.
Barbara, I'm just so tired of this whole episode. I'll
send you the subsequent correspondence we've had and
maybe you can make head or tails of why, where and
how to proceed? I really do want us to resolve this
ASAP and get on with the business of teaching.
Thank you for your advise and your very sage input.
Lavinia Schlebusch
____________________
Lavinia
Writes to the Principal who Witnessed the Agreement
for a Private Apartment and Receives a Reply
from his Wife.
Dear Lavinia
The saga continues!!! Like
so many things, facts have been "fudged".
You, Rob and I are all clear that Kumar promised
you housing. In fact we made it
a pre-requisite to you signing a contract. There is
absolutely no doubt about his agreeing to the conditions.
I was
so pleased at the time that everything was signed and
sealed.
Everything will be denied. Kuwait is in our minds like
a bad dream that we want to sooner forget. I'm sure
that you will stand no chance if you go to Kuwait.
If I were you I would drop the whole issue.
Your life in Kuwait would not be great if you returned.
That, though, is my opinion. I would rather cut your
losses at this stage. I think ISR have been fantastic
but maybe it is time to quit.
Love, S
____________________
Debbie Dixon,
vice principal of Future Bilingual Writes to
Dr. Spilchuk
Dear Dr. Barbara,
Thank you for your email and I appreciate your time
taken in this matter. You know that I respect you tremendously
and value our friendship.
Dr. Barbara, where has FBS gone wrong? How did FBS
break any contract with Lavinia? Forget the company,
forget the owners- where do we draw the line? Lavinia
claims that she was promised her own apartment
for this school year. This is not FBS's policy nor
has
it ever been FBS policy. Lavinia was interviewed
on the same recruiting trip that numerous other teachers
were hired. All of the other teachers are either sharing
or paying the difference- with absolutely no problems.
FBS is not unique in offering
shared housing- this is quite a common practice here
in
Kuwait. We are going through all of this because
she is refuses to pay the charges for having her
own apartment? No one entered her apartment, Dr.
Barbara.
I wrote Lavinia on August 13th advising her that
we had new teacher apartments
and asking her if it were ok for us to move her
items or not. At this time,
I was surprised to discover, that this teacher left
without knowing when she needs to return to Kuwait
for this academic year. This was August 13th!
Where is the professionalism or level of responsibility
in not knowing when school will start or when
you have to report! I informed Lavinia that
teachers need to report by August 26th-- it is now
September 4th and she is
still not here. Throughout this entire process there
have been repeated requests for Lavinia to indicate
a date when she was prepared to return- she never did
so. And now she informs us that she has taken other
work, while having a contract with FBS, and can not
report until after September 13th?
Lavinia wrote quite accurately that the weeks prior
to school and the first few weeks of school are
extremely hectic, but yet she does not see the importance of her being here???
Her colleges are here now-- preparing their classrooms and the school for the
next school year. Everyone is working hard. Yet, Lavinia
does not feel that she should be here?? She is not ill, she is not dealing with
an emergency-- she is working another job. This is not a legal reason to be absent
from your contracted position.
We are trying to organize and build an organization.
We have not wronged Lavinia in any way- just
the
opposite. FBS paid her full summer pay- with August
pay to be given her upon her return to Kuwait- for working about 6 weeks! This
was a more than nice gesture on the school's part. Other teachers did not get
this "deal". The injustice
is not being done to Lavinia, but to the school.
And now e wants to negatively effect the students that would be in her class??
Lavinia has taken another job, broken the confidentiality
of the school, and has
not reported to work as per her contract. The school has overmcompensated her
for working about 6 weeks. We have upheld our end of the contract. Lavinia claims
to have been promised something which is not in her
contract and has never been the policy of the school. Again, where do we draw
the line?
I have absolutely no problems with anyone reading any
of my correspondences concerning this matter.
I do not hide behind anything. I know that FBS and
myself have acted professionally, morally, and fair.
I am
not "sticking up for the owners" or anyone
else. I am being honest and fair. Unfortunately,
ISR choose to publish a letter- with the name withheld-
from someone who claimed
to have been the director at this school last year.
This is simply a lie. As I mentioned, there was no
director at this school last year. I will not repeat
the items that I mentioned in my letter to ISR-- I
will simply say that if a
person will lie about their position-- then I must
call into doubt everything
else that person may say.
Dr. Barbara, again, I respect you professionally and
personally- and I will
respect whatever action you chose to take in regards
to this matter.
Debbie Dixon
____________________
Debbie
Dixon Writes to Both Lavinai and Dr. Spilchuk
Dear Lavinia and Dr. Barbara,
I would like to address this email among the three
of us. I have decided to write this as an upfront
and honest communication between the three of us.
As you are aware, the whole administration team here
at FBS is new. The owner brought in a new team because
the last set of administrators failed miserably at
running even a half-way decent school. Lavinia, you
had to be a witness to this. No leadership, no direction,
no teams, no curriculum, no accountability-- simple
things like filing student enrollment folders were
not accomplished. I dont know how teachers left for
the summer without knowing when they need to be back!
Favoritism ran wild. Unqualified teachers were hired
and paid higher salaries than certified teachers
with years of experience. There was no consistency
in any aspect of the school. I have spent all summer
meeting parents to convince them NOT to withdraw
their students from the school. Additionally, I have
met and interviewed most of the students who are
re-enrolling.. and I am simply shocked. As it stands
now, we have more new students than old students.
A couple of my fellow teachers from my old school
were offered positions by the old administration
here at FBS. They were told that the accommodations
were sharing.. and a one elected to pay the 125KD
difference to have his own apartment. We also had
six new teachers come from South Africa- one has
chosen to pay the difference to have her own apartment
(she is a single mom and has her son with her).
Lavinia, I am sorry that you thought that you would
have free single housing. I really am. I am sorry
that you are going through this stressful situation.
At the same time, we need to be fair and consistent.
Its FBS policy, and the prevailing practice in Kuwait,
to provide teachers with sharing accommodations.
The teachers are very happy with the new apartments.
They are two bedroom, two bathrooms.. they are good
size and literally right across the parking lot..
so they are very convenient. Lavinia, I would suggest
to you to come and share. The lady you would be sharing
with is also from South Africa. She will be teaching
third grade at the British school next door. She
is very nice and the apartments are set in such a
way that you easily will have privacy. You will have
your own bathroom and I think you will be comfortable
and happy. There are four apartments on the floor
and they are all FBS teachers-and all these teachers
are from South Africa.
Lavinia, I believe that you will like to be a part
of the FBS staff this year. There is a new Academic
Director.. she is in charge of all three schools-
Future, British school, and the Arabic school. She
is super terrific. She is extremely professional,
fair, consistent, and simply a very nice person.
I am thrilled to be working for her.
We went ahead and got the ticket for you in the hopes
that you are coming. All teachers reported last week
and next week starts the official orientation week.
And as I mentioned, there are a lot of changes taking
place. Its extremely important that you are informed
about the new policies, procedures, and culture of
the school. Next week is a very full week for all
of us. Teachers will be having in-services on everything
from lesson planning, new textbooks, curriculum,
and of course, policies and procedures.
Lavinia, again I am sorry for all of this misunderstanding,
but again, I hope you chose to come and be part of
the team.
Regards,
Debbie Dixon
____________________
Dr
Spilchuk replies to Debbie
Dixon, vice principal of Future Bilingual
Hello Debbie
I've been away and off line so I was quite surprised
to see the amount of correspondence that has occurred
between yourself and Lavinia. I can't say I'm unhappy
with that situation, however. When 2 people can work
out a situation without mediation, that is far better
than a third party stepping in.
I really like the tone of your letter, Debbie. You
haven't changed one bit. I continue to have high
regard for you. this letter has a very conciliatory
and welcoming message to Lavinia. FBS are very lucky
to have you.
I do understand about changing administration. The
problem Lavinia has, and one that I am having, is
that apparently she was promised single housing from
your school last year. A changed administration does
not change that situation.
I'm actually surprised that a school of international
calibre would not provide single housing to a teacher.
It is not an easy thing to uproot oneself and relocate
to work in a new country without the support of family
and friends. To also be expected to share with an
unknown party, from the same country or otherwise,
simply adds to that stress.
Lavinia came at the end of the year, my understanding
of the situation. She was, again, my understanding
of the situation, not informed when she left for
the summer vacation, that her apartment would be
entered while she was away and that another individual
would either move in, or that her belongings would
be moved out to a new locale. If this had happened
to me in any of the international venues where I
whave orked, I would have felt quite violated, so
I absolutely understand Lavinia's concern about this
situation. This, then, is the crux of the problem.
There needs to be a give and a take here. I do understand
about fairness and justice, but fairness and justice
is certainly situational. In this circumstance. I
would think it might be reasonable for FBS to negotiate
single housing with Lavinia for at least 1/2 of the
coming school year. The mess caused by admin changeover
should not impact Lavinia as this was certainly out
of her control. At the end of the 1/2 year, Lavinia
should be given the option to pay the subsidization
to remain in a single unit.
This is my best advice. It offers fairness for Lavinia,
while also taking into account that other teachers
are living by different rules. Fairness does not
always mean same, however. Fairness depends upon
the specific circumstance and a given situation.
While I understand a new administration wanting to
make wide swathing change, teachers cannot become
chaff from the wheat during the chaos of new change.
You know me, Debbie. Would I have allowed anything
like this to happen to any staff members at my school?
The answer is, quite simply, not in this lifetime.
See what you can do to mediate this situation so
that there is a win-win-win all around. Right now
the win would be for FBS...and the children would
be the greatest losers of all with an unhappy teacher
in the classroom.
If I can be of further assistance Debbie, or Lavinia,
please do come back to me once again.
Cheers
Barbara
____________________
Lavinia
is Still
Undecided
Dearest Barbara.
Received your last 2 emails and must thank you for
the response of humour, insight and common sense.
I haven't received anything from them as regards your
email to Ms Dixon.
Okay, I'm onto it. Was going to give them 1 day to
respond, they haven't and now I'm writing my letter.
I will request a ticket confirmation for a flight on
13th, there and back!
I certainly do not want to get there and then be stuck with no return passage
and I'm afraid my faith in the system is such that I fear they may well pull
such a stunt.
And, or, a request to have my goods boxed and sent over to me in South Africa
in the event that they refuse to uphold their end of the contract - brilliant
idea from the Editor. All hail Saint Ben!
Let me draft it now and might I send it to you to proof read?
Regards.
Lavinia Schlebusch
____________________
Dr.
Spilchuk Advises Lavinia to Request Her Belongings
Hi Lavinia
Right on. Silence from Debbie indicates
the school is not willing to negotiate further. She
was the soft center with an in to me but has decided
to support the school policy. Too bad.
Write the
email now requesting that your
things be shipped at the school's
expense
to South
Africa. It is clear that the school has no
intentions of honoring your
contract. Indicate to Debbie
Dixon that you have clarified the communication
recently between Rob, yourself
and Kumar with Rob so you
know
you did not make an error in your understanding.
Also indicate that you believe you did not
misinterpret the first intent
to dismiss, the reason why
you got a temp position, thus were unable to return
to
Kuwait
before Sept 13.
Make the email short and sweet. No long details
as everything has been said and misunderstood
many times
over already.
Cheers
Barbara
