Some W’land schools to reopen with shelter dwellers

Unless shelter occupants relocate within the next four days, upper-school students returning on Monday to three Westmoreland high schools will return with hurricane evacuees on the compounds.

At least two institutions – Belmont Academy and Godfrey Stewart High – still have significant numbers of displaced residents on their compounds following Hurricane Melissa’s devastating passage on October 28.

At Belmont Academy, officials were, on Wednesday, racing to clean and prepare classrooms for the return of senior students. However, sections of the school earmarked for teaching remain occupied by evacuees.

“The external examination groups is 180 students. One hundred and fifty grade elevens, and 60 grades 12 and 13. We are moving them downstairs as upstairs’ windows are severely damaged … ,” explained principal Rayon Simpson.

“Block B currently houses 17 persons. The situation is not ideal, and I am not comfortable with it, but I understand that these are not normal times either,” he added.

A section of another block is also being occupied by Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers.

Simpson said there was no shelter manager at the school, and school officials were the ones interfacing with the occupants on a daily basis. Donations have been solicited, resulting in tables and boxes of clothing at the school’s entrance, where students, parents, evacuees, and community members select items as needed.

One resident publicly thanked the World Central Kitchen for supplying meals, which are supplemented by food collected through donations.

“Registration for CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams) is ticking in. Students are now coming in to complete their registration as CXC (Caribbean Examinations Council) offered an extension from close of this week to first week in December to complete the registration. The administrative functions of the school is being run on a donated generator from the St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) International Partners and Associates Inc while STATHS Alumni Class of 1978 donated a Starlink and clothing for staff,” Simpson told The Gleaner.

Belmont hopes to bring grades seven to nine back by December, but Simpson said a larger generator is needed for the academy to restart furniture production, which normally supplies several schools. Clean-up efforts have been supported by volunteers from schools across the island, including Jamaica College, as well as Tivoli Gardens, St Catherine, Morant Bay, Eltham, Waterford, St Elizabeth Technical and Central high Schools, and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.

ONCE IT IS SAFE

Linvern Wright, president of the Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, said the Ministry of Education has encouraged schools to reopen “where it [is] safe” to do so.

“We still have some (shelter occupants), but the numbers are significantly reduced, and every day we try to have people relocate where their homes are in a condition for them to do,” Wright, the principal of William Knibb Memorial High School in Trelawny, told The Gleaner.

The Westmoreland-based Godfrey Stewart High is sheltering 50 people, including school staff – down from a high of 200.

Vice-principal Margaret Thompson said residents were being urged to move to other areas of the campus to allow sanitising of the spaces needed for students.

While also expressing some discomfort about reopening with shelter occupants still on the compound, she said attention is being paid to the CSEC and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination students, especially those with school-based assessments to complete.

“We are catering to all the external examination cohort, to include some from third, fourth, and others from fifth form. So that’s the focus right now,” she told T he Gleaner.

DESPERATELY IN NEED

Meanwhile, Frome Technical High School, though shelter-free, remains without water and electricity. Senior teachers spent Wednesday registering students for external examinations.

“We are desperately in need of a Starlink device. What we are using now is the personal device of a member of staff. When he is not here, we don’t have connectivity. We are also using someone’s personal generator. It’s a small generator. It provides the power we are currently using, so we are desperately in need of both,” said Telisha Jordine-Harvey, a teacher and member of the school’s exam administration team.

Frome is preparing for a cohort of 374 students, including 225 in grade 11, 102 in grade 12, and four in grade 13. Dean of discipline John Virtue said the school will operate on reduced hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.

“This is to allow the students to leave in the daylight hours as there is no electricity in the parish, and at this time, night comes earlier. So we want them to get home early, and we will be asking them to bring drinking water,” he told The Gleaner.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com