The Boards of Television Jamaica Limited and parent Company Radio Jamaica Limited have vowed to respond vigorously to a court injunction being sought by Camperdown High School in respect of this season of the popular Schools Challenge Quiz competition.
During the meeting of the Boards on Wednesday the company’s attorney was served with notice that Camperdown High School is to seek an injunction from the courts to halt the present season of TVJ’s Schools’ Challenge Quiz until it has resolved the matters to the school's satisfaction.
The application is to be heard on Thursday and the Boards of RJR and TVJ, in a statement on Wednesday evening, said the management had been advised "to stoutly present its case including making clear that all schools have agreed to abide by the decisions of the judges and that the judges’ decision is final."
Below is the full text of the RJR/TVJ statement.
Wednesday March 23, 2016 The Boards of Television Jamaica Limited and parent Company Radio Jamaica Limited met in their regular monthly meeting today and gave priority attention to the two contentious issues in the Schools’ Challenge Quiz being raised by Camperdown High School and Kingston College.
The Board received extensive reports from the management on a series of activities in the last two weeks and expressed shock at the conduct reported and attributed to some students and their supporters at the matches.
At today’s meeting of the Radio Jamaica Board Mrs. Nadine Molloy, principal of Ardenne High School asked not to attend the meeting because of a potential conflict of interest.
In particular the Board expressed its surprise at a number of troubling things including:
That students would, in their disappointment at the outcome of matches, choose to knock over furniture;
Students would threaten violence against staff at TVJ and against judges in the competition;
Supervisors who accompany the students would stand by and not do enough to bring the students under control;
That one of the schools in question was written to about the threatening conduct of their students and their disruptive behaviour and more than two days later nothing has been done or said about the conduct and communicated to the station.
The students and coaches of teams would be prepared to accept the decision of judges that go in their favour but would not accept an unfavourable decision from the same judges.
That schools would be demanding that rules that do not apply to certain sections of the quiz, be used to apply to inappropriate sections;
That schools would attend matches with previously written and pre-signed letters to challenge the outcome of matches, just in the event they do not secure the results they desire;
That school representatives and operatives would bring the competition into disrepute by the disparaging comments they make in sections of the media and do not expect this to have a negative impact on their relationship with the competition.
The Boards said that several other issues are of concern and the management was mandated to carry out a comprehensive review of the rules of the competition at the end of the season with a view to being in a position to be more definitive in actions it can take to avoid the competition from being brought into disrepute at any point of the season.
The Boards mandated the Management of TVJ to consult with its loyal advertisers and sponsors and get their input on what changes they would support to either see the current season through to a dignified end and to strengthen the 47 year old competition going forward.
During the meeting of the Boards on Wednesday the company’s attorney was served with notice that Camperdown High School is to seek an injunction from the courts to halt the present season of TVJ’s Schools’ Challenge Quiz until it has resolved the matters to their satisfaction.
The application is to be heard on Thursday and the Boards of RJR and TVJ have advised the management to stoutly present its case including making clear that all schools have agreed to abide by the decisions of the judges and that the judges’ decision is final.
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