Corozal Teacher Asks Who is Holding His Salary
Corozal Community College (CCC) music teacher Renan Ruiz overturned his dismissal at the Teaching Service Appeals Tribunal and beat the college’s challenge in the High Court. Six months after that court ruling, he says he still has not been paid, and his long leave has been pushed back to 2027.
The Belize Teaching Service Commission dismissed Ruiz on October 16, 2024, after disciplinary proceedings over messages he sent to students.
The Tribunal did not excuse the conduct. “A teacher under no circumstances should be messaging his/her students especially after hours,” it ruled. It found dismissal “too severe” and quashed it on September 16, 2025. In its place, the Tribunal ordered Ruiz to lose one and a half months’ salary and attend eight counselling sessions.
CCC took the Tribunal to court and lost. On March 20, 2026, Justice Rajiv Goonetilleke refused the college permission to seek judicial review and ordered CCC to pay Ruiz’s legal costs.
Following the judgment, Ruiz’s attorney, Nazira Uc Myles, demanded $69,580.75 in outstanding salary and stipends.
On April 10, board chairman Father Thomas Stone told the Teaching Service Commission that the board “will comply with the decision of the Teaching Service Appeals Tribunal.” He asked the Ministry of Education to pay “all salaries due to Mr. Renan Ruiz for the period from the date of dismissal to April 12, 2026.”
The same day, college attorney Immanuel Williams wrote that the school “did not receive any salary funds for Mr. Ruiz” and that the funds “were retained by the Ministry.”
Correspondence shows the retroactive payment set for Ruiz covers only September 2025 to March 2026, the period after the Tribunal ruled. That leaves out more than 10 months from his dismissal onward, the same period his own board asked the Ministry to pay.
Ruiz challenged it in writing. “Who advised that my payment should cover only the period from September 2025 to March 2026, when the Tribunal’s ruling was that I should lose only one and a half months’ salary?” he asked. He says nothing has arrived. “No money was received as of today,” he told News 5.
According to Ruiz, the Anglican Church transferred Father Stone out of the country. He says the principal, who also serves as board secretary, is on long leave and left his case unsettled.
His own leave is now on hold. In an August 6 letter to Teaching Service Commission chairman Claudio Leal, Ruiz said the principal told him his “long overdue” leave would be approved, but three teachers were already approved for leave in September. He was advised to wait until April 2027. In his letter, Ruiz insisted, “this situation was not caused by me. As such, I believe the responsibility for managing the approved leave scheduling should primarily rest with the school, in coordination with the Commission, in order to avoid unnecessary delays for my service and leave entitlements”.
Ruiz says no one has told him who limited the payment, or when he will receive the rest. Nor has anyone said whether the months between his dismissal and the Tribunal’s ruling count towards his years of service.
News 5 contacted the Ministry of Education’s Chief Executive Officer, Dian Maheia. She said she was not in a position to discuss the matter but said she would respond once she is able to.
News 5 also contacted the college. CCC’s acting principal told News 5 he is not authorised to speak to the media without approval from the board, and he declined to answer our questions.