Tacky High students relocated after thieves burn school block
Published:Tuesday | May 6, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Chad Bryan, Gleaner Writer
More than 200 students of the Tacky High School in St Mary currently sitting May-June external examinations are to be relocated to neighbouring Guy's Hill, Iona, and Brimmer Vale high schools after a massive fire destroyed the administrative block at the institution early yesterday morning.
The relocation of the students was announced during a meeting yesterday morning attended by principal Errol Bascoe, members of the teaching and administrative staff, Ministry of Education officials, member of parliament for Western St Mary, Jolyan Silvera, the police and fire personnel.
During the meeting, Bascoe said plans were being put in place to bus students to the new examination centres in order to make the process as smooth as possible.
Cops want information
Superintendent of police in charge of St Mary, Dean Johnson, urged members of both the administrative and teaching staff to provide the police with any information they had regarding the fire alleged to have been caused by thieves.
Four masked men allegedly gained entry to Tacky High sometime after 1 a.m. The nightwatchman on duty was told by the men to throw down a knife in his possession and forced to lie on the ground where he was relieved of his cell phones.
He was then quizzed about the combination to the vault inside the administrative office, which he did not know.
He was then ordered to open a section of the school, where the thieves gained access to a welding torch which was used to burn the vault in an attempt to get it open.
Tied up with phone cords
This was unsuccessful, and the watchman was tied up with phone cords and placed in a bathroom.
The men then tried to chisel their way into the vault.
The watchman noticed fire coming from the block, which housed the principal's office, bathroom, kitchen, multipurpose hall, records office, staffroom and bookroom.
Following his escape, the watchman notified a teacher living nearby.
Toni-Ann Thompson, who is scheduled to sit the human and social biology exam on Friday, was among a number of students milling around the schoolyard.
"All of my books in the staffroom were burned. It is going to slow up everything," she said.
In the meantime, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites expressed sympathy for all those affected and disgust at the actions of the perpetrators.
The minister also said plans were being implemented to provide furniture and equipment and, in the long term, relieve the school of the shift system.
Renovation of the section of the school that was destroyed is likely to cost several millions of dollars, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education yesterday revealed.
According to Coleridge Minto, director of security and safety at the education ministry, the fire will leave the school closed for the next few days.
- Orantes Moore contributed to this story