Leadership Academy Faces Public Relations Challenges |
| 4/4/2007 10:11:00 AM |
 Because of the Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy for Girls link to the "Queen of Talk TV", the school has endured some distinct teething problems. Since opening, the Academy has been the butt of negative reports. Many of the complaints have landed at the doorstep of John Samuel- Head Administrator, including reported complaints by parents that the school is too "strict" and more from the Henley-on-Klip Community.
A group of Henley-on-Klip women recently applied for permission to picket the school's alleged employment bias of excluding Henley-on-Klip residents. They claim that they told they would be given preference in hiring. The picket was called off when John Samuel offered temporary work cleaning the yard outside for three weeks.
"But that is not good enough. We want permanent jobs. We want to talk to Oprah Winfrey," one of the women says.
In response, Samuels says; "I have been in ongoing discussions with this group as to how, as opposed to offering them jobs, we can help them build capacity," he says, explaining that by this he means possible training in running their own small businesses." He adds; "We are a school, not an employment agency. At the same time, we do recognize the need out there, which is why we want to help."
Rumor is that the permanent cleaning staff are mostly from Sebokeng, which Samuels denies, saying the school's policy is to "give preference, where practical, to people from the entire Midvaal area".
The local police force has also expressed frustration at being told they need not patrol the school. Mr. Samuels arranged to meet the Station Commissioner, "to clarify any misunderstanding".
Another voice of complaints has emerged from school's neighbors, the Jackson's, who live in a home nearby; "We moved here a few years ago to find peace away from the rat race. Well, had we only known," says Lynn Jackson. "After three years of the school being built, the noise hasn't stopped. There's an awful lot of traffic in and out of the school, all very expensive cars, and when they leave, some of them use the road like a racetrack. And there's a security guard patrolling day and night, inciting all the dogs to bark through the night."
To this, Samuels replies; "I spend five days a week here, and it is very quiet, very peaceful."
Things have tended to be magnified by a strong perception among the locals that school is cloaked in secrecy; "Any correspondence with the media must be routed via Chicago," says Mr. Samuels, "but we are working on a more efficient way in the future. The academy is based on the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which places an emphasis on the collective."
The school closed last week for its first break. Perhaps, what is now perceived as an anomalous, heavy-handed foreign institution might start to be embraced and the "Ubuntu" will become reality. |
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