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Government Members of Parliament (MP) closed ranks yesterday to prevent Education Minister Fayval Williams from giving definitive answers to whether disgraced former education minister and principal of Jamaica College (JC) Ruel Reid will be allowed to continue on paid special leave when his current leave period expires on November 20 this year.The questions were brought to the House of Representatives by St Andrew South Eastern MP Julian Robinson a month ago.Williams insisted that the board of Jamaica College had not made a recommendation regarding Reid's leave, but she did not make clear if such an application would be granted.The Government has been paying out over $11 million (gross) in salaries and benefits to Reid and acting principal of JC Wayne Robinson, combined, inclusive of motor vehicle upkeep of $74,577 each, and housing allowance of $35,481 each.In March 2019, the board of JC recommended, and received approval from the ministry, special leave with full salary for the embattled principal from March 8 to 24; earned vacation leave with full salary from March 25 to November 2019; and special leave with full salary from November 21, 2019 to November 20, 2021.Reid remains before the court, having been arrested in October 2019 on charges of defrauding the Ministry of Education and Caribbean Maritime University of millions of dollars. He was expelled from the Andrew Holness Cabinet in March 2019. The JC board had released him on secondment in March 2016 to serve as minister for an initial period of two years.Asked whether Reid would be allowed to continue on paid leave indefinitely, Williams, in monotones, repeatedly quoted from the 1965 Education Act and its 1980 regulations.The minister was directed by Deputy House Speaker Juliet Holness not to respond to questions from MP for St Catherine Southern Fitz Jackson and others as to whether her ministry would approve more paid leave for Reid if the JC board makes an application. This, after Justice Minister Delroy Chuck insisted that the questions were speculative and misleading, and were in breach of the House Standing Orders. He insisted that the Speaker should direct the minister not to respond.The Opposition members persisted. Jackson criticised the justification for continuing to keep Reid on paid leave, given that his post was essentially being filled by Robinson, who is performing the full duties of principal.St Ann South Eastern MP Lisa Hanna pointed to situations in which police officers are interdicted and sent on unpaid leave while matters they were involved in are investigated. But Williams told the House that such matters are not provided for in the laws governing the education sector."In the Act, and in the regulations, there is not the concept of interdiction as you would find in the public service," she said, reading from the regulations, in response to a volley of questions from members of the Opposition, who demanded to know if there is a cut-off time for unpaid leave for teachers in the public sector."A teacher in a public educational institution may be allowed special leave with or without pay, as the minister may approve, on the recommendation of the board to enable the teacher to be absent for such other reasons as the minister may approve," she quoted.Williams pointed out that boards are vested with the power to appoint, terminate, promote, and suspend from duty, members of staff of public education institutions. She also did not explain what the guiding principles are for any decision to allow Reid to continue on paid special leave after November 20, 2021.