JEDDAH, 31 October — A new seven-member Board Of Trustees of the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) yesterday said they were taking charge of the school after being sworn in by Philippine consul general here.

Led by Fidel R. Hernandez, president of the IPSJ Parent-Teachers Council (PTC), the new trustees said they were administered the oath by Consul General Kadatuan P. Usop at his office on Oct. 29.

They furnished Arab News photocopies of their oath-taking certificates signed by Usop.

Apart from Hernandez who was sworn in as chairman, the other trustees are:

• Yusoph A. Saadra, vice chairman;

• Albert G. Pecson, Ministry of Education representative in charge of administrative affairs;

• Abdullah U. Abutazil, MOE representative for academic matters;

• Jennur S. Ailani, Reymar U. Guadania and Shamsuddin S. Junaide, all parents’ representatives.

In an interview yesterday, Hernandez and his group said they were given the mandate as trustees by some 200 parents who assembled on Oct. 11 in front of the school gate in Jeddah’s Gornatah area.

During that supposed assembly, the parents moved to abolish the Board of Trustees chaired by Efren Rodriguez for lack of confidence and for misgovernance.

“It (Rodriguez-led BOT) had exceeded its two-year mandate by a year and had failed to call an assembly of parents, fresh BoT election and produce a financial statement,” said a statement by the new group.

The school has around 1,200 students from pre-elementary to high school, making it the biggest Philippine school abroad. It has 70 teachers and a 40-member administrative staff.

After denouncing the excesses of the Rodriguez board, the new trustees promised to do what is right.

“Parents are the supreme authority of the community school. The new team will respect their wishes and will adopt a policy of consultation with them. No major decision will be made without consulting them,” Hernandez told Arab News yesterday.

He declared that the new BoT would draw up a plan to set right school matters, whether it pertained to its finances or day-to-day administration and academic matters.

“At the outset, we will appoint an independent auditor to look into alleged financial irregularities of the previous BOT,” Hernandez said.

“It’s our commitment to provide good governance and administration to our school, which are in line with the desires and aspirations of the community,” he added.

The present BOT is expected to come up with its reaction today.