Cemetery stigma haunts Goshen school

Stakeholders in eastern St Elizabeth are pressing for the relocation of the Goshen Early Childhood Institution (ECI), arguing that its proximity to the community cemetery has spooked parents and driven away students who could be placed at the school.

Many parents have even chosen to enrol their children outside the community because of the foible.

The concern has weighed on the mind of Natalee Roper-Allen, principal of Goshen Primary, who said her team has long lobbied for a merger of the two schools. That advocacy began in 2019.

“There is a demand from the community for the younger children to come, because the early-childhood institution is located directly beside the Goshen Cemetery and parents dislike that,” Roper-Allen said in a Gleaner interview.

“The early-childhood institution also suffers in terms of numbers, because parents opt to send their children elsewhere instead of the facility within the community belts.”

The principal said she had received preliminary responses on infrastructure, as well as feedback on future processes, but they are waiting on the requests to be ratified.

But Roper-Allen said that parents continue to plead with administrators to have the early-childhood school relocated.

The principal said that both school boards and parent-teacher associations have held consultations and are soliciting the support of other stakeholders.

Roper-Allen disclosed, too, that parents have long lamented the extra cost to transporting children to the early-childhood school, located about half-mile from the primary school. Its principal is Elaine Bryan.

“The community has been craving for the [early-childhood] school to be transferred to this location, reason being, it is costly for the parents to pay for two transportation to take their children. With that, we have written to the ministry and asked for a merger,” said Roper-Allen.

Desmond Williams, chairman of Goshen Early Childhood Institution, acknowledged that the school’s nearness to the graveyard was cause for anxiety for some families.

“Because of that, there has been hesitation from parents to send their children here; so the interest was there from all stakeholders to put all efforts together to ensure the school is relocated to the primary school,” Williams told The Gleaner.

The board chairman theorised, however, that the construction of a perimeter wall between the school and cemetery might ease some of those concerns.

Referencing the futile calls to have the wall erected, Williams said: “It has never been done, so we’re at the point where we’ve decided to move it from here.”

Stakeholders have also suggested that the early-childhood institution be yanked from the list of approved emergency hurricane shelters because it is prone to flooding, said Williams.

But Black River Mayor Derrick Sangster said he was oblivious to the concerns.

“I don’t know of the problem. It’s something that I’d have to go and check with the councillor for the area, but I can’t understand why after all these years ... the past million years, why this sudden concern,” Sangster told The Gleaner on Sunday.

The mayor said he would meet with other political representatives for the area to get better insight into the problems.

olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com