JEDDAH, 10 October — The Board of Trustees of the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) yesterday told members of the school community not to attend an assembly called by the Parent-Teachers Council (PTC), warning that such a gathering is not authorized.

"For the safety and security of all concerned, we advise you not to attend this unauthorized assembly," Board chairman Efren Rodriguez said in a letter addressed to parents, teachers and staff.

Rodriguez also warned that the Board would hold PTC chair Fidel Hernandez and "certain PTG officers responsible and accountable to the authorities for the possible consequences of their act should they continue to defy the host country’s regulation."

He said such meeting is considered illegal as it was called without written permission from the Saudi ministries of education and interior.

Earlier, the PTC wrote parents and the school staff that a parents general assembly was scheduled at the school gymnasium on Friday to discuss various issues that the Board concerning themselves.

Listed in the agenda of the meeting, among others, were "good governance," "transparency," and a report of the PTC.

Of the 11 PTC officers, only two did not sign the letter. The two who did not sign inhibited themselves "because they have earlier been accused by Rodriguez and his cohorts of engaging in politics," a PTC member told Arab News. The PTC is composed of presidents of parent groups (PTG) in each class, plus two peace officers selected from among other parents.

PTC officials yesterday said they are surprised at the "violent reaction" of Rodriguez to the parents assembly.

"If they have nothing to hide, why don’t they want us to meet?" asked Hernandez. "Why don’t they meet us instead of threatening us?"

Hernandez said the PTC was constrained to call for an assembly because the Board of Trustees canceled one scheduled on July 25 "without providing reliable and valid reasons."

In a phone interview with Arab News, Rodriguez said they have already explained that the assembly was canceled because Ministry of Education officials were not available to supervise it.

He explained that a request for a permit to hold an assembly would take at least five weeks to process.

Asked whether his letter to parents was a threat, he said it was just an "expression of concern" because they could get in trouble. He noted that meetings at the IPSJ have always turned violent.

Last year, Rodriguez himself was whipped on the head by a school janitor fearful of losing his job. More than a month ago, a member of the Board was said to have beaten up another member for threatening Rodriguez during their own meeting.

Hernandez denied accusations that politics was the reason for their insisting on an assembly. He refused to give specifics on what they would discuss but talk about questionable transactions made by the governing board had been going on since last year.

A team of auditors who looked into the school’s finances since Rodriguez and his group took over in early 2000 said the 1.3 million riyals or so money left by the previous administration was almost wiped out in just a year.

Charges of nepotism and hiring of incompetents have also been leveled against the Board members.

Rodriguez had also answered these charges in a letter to parents as well as to Arab News. He dismissed the audit team’s report as the work not of "fact-finders" but of "fault-finders."

One hot issue about the troubled school is overstaying of the Board members, whose term was supposed to have expired in September of 2001.

Rodriguez had a ready answer to that: "Our term was extended by the MOE last March for a year."

Asked if the IPSJ Constitution and By-Laws that the School Board itself drafted two years ago and which the parents ratified has become a useless scrap of paper, Rodriguez said that was the effect.

He said there is a new policy on foreign schools issued by the MOE and that it is the policy of the host government that always prevails.