BACK TO SQUARE ONE.....Herbert Morrison faces uphill climb to restore student records, library

WESTERN BUREAU:

The St James-based Herbert Morrison Technical High School is facing a significant challenge to recover past students’ records and library materials lost during the passage of the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa last October.

The school, located in Bogue – near Catherine Hall – in Montego Bay, sustained extensive infrastructural and flooding damage to several of its classrooms, laboratories, and administrative areas as a result of the hurricane’s impact.

Principal Dr Lavern Stewart told The Gleaner that while the school has some academic records in digital form, those records date only as far back as 2008. Records from before then were preserved only in physical copies, many of which were damaged or destroyed by Melissa.

“At this point, we are in a desperate position as it relates to our files – all the files – and I am still trying to wrap my head around how are we going to recover all of these files from 1976 until now. All the files were covered in mud and silt, and if you open the filing cabinet drawer they were in, they are all clumped into one piece, and you cannot pull them apart without everything tearing,” said Stewart.

“Our past students are an integral part of our school, and we want to know that whenever there is something they want to pursue, we are able to make it happen by providing the necessary documents that they need,” the principal added. “We do not want to disrupt those documents too much, so they are still sitting in cabinets, and we just want an expert who can help us in that recovery process.”

While the school is grappling with the painstaking task of recovering decades of student records, the hurricane also dealt a severe blow to another important resource: its library. The roof and windows were extensively damaged, and the roughly 1,000 books and six laptops that were in the space were destroyed. At present, there is no available space to host a library as all other spaces at the school are either being used for classes or undergoing repairs.

Shawnette Dewar, vice-principal for the lower school and one of the library’s administrators, told The Gleaner that the Jamaica Library Service has promised to assist with replacing some of its books. She said that the school is also hoping to get digital books to replace some of what was lost.

“All our books were completely damaged, and the only things that we actually saved were CSEC and CAPE past papers, because they were in filing cabinets,” she said, referring to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations.

“We want to renovate the space into a more modern library, to get some cubicles where students can do their research, and to have this area fixed or outfitted with computers and laptops,” said Dewar.

“Recently, we had our book room coordinator supplying us with a link where students can download some books. We are hoping that if we get the right equipment, including some laptops for teachers to use in the space, we can have digital titles available,” she added.

Meanwhile, Stewart issued a plea for assistance to help Herbert Morrison replace various pieces of equipment lost in labs – including information and communication technology and technical and vocational education and training tools, some of which cost up to $3 million.

“While we are awaiting the Ministry of Education to assist us, we are still asking if there is any person who has a philanthropic interest in Herbert Morrison to assist us as we try to replace all the equipment that would have been destroyed by the hurricane,” she said.

“I want to extend it to not just the TVET (technical and vocational education and training) materials, but also to our Physical Education Department that suffered really badly, because all the pieces of equipment from the gym were destroyed. We are at ground zero as it relates to our equipment right now,” the principal said.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com