ROOF COLLAPSE FEARS

The incessant bites from mosquitoes are the least of Principal Debbie Hutchinson’s worries.

Since taking the helm of Grove Town Primary and Infant School in Manchester in 2020, Hutchinson, alongside her staff and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), has been consumed with a more alarming fear: the potential collapse of the school’s roof, which could lead to a tragic loss of lives.

Stanley Broomfield, who became the school’s board chairman this academic year, has been grappling with the scale of the crisis.

“We have money to compensate families in the event of a fatality?” a frustrated Broomfield asked rhetorically as he spoke with The Sunday Gleaner just over a week ago.

“This is not a today problem. This is not a Hurricane Beryl problem. Every single block is leaking. One block was fixed in 2018, and it has started to leak again. I have seen some videos where I cannot imagine that so much water could be coming from the roof,” he said.

While he inherited the problem, Broomfield acknowledged the burden now rests squarely on his shoulders.

“I am so upset. You hear of these problems over the years in other schools, but now, here am I as a board chairman, and this is in my lap. What must I tell a parent if something should happen? What? What? If this was another primary school in some other parish or community of influence, it would have been fixed. So, a prime minister or governor general can’t come from Grove Town Primary? Look here, it must be fixed!” he exclaimed, visibly upset.

The journey to Grove Town Primary and Infant School is fraught with challenges. From Toll Gate to the school, the road is riddled with potholes, some exacerbated by Hurricane Beryl, while others are remnants of years of neglect. The surrounding environment, overrun by mosquitoes breeding in stagnant rainwater, adds to the school’s woes.

Principal Hutchinson detailed the dire situation inside the school.

“We have a perennial leaking-roof problem and the Ministry [of Education] is aware of it ... . We have five blocks and all blocks are leaking. This has been so from 2012,” she told The Sunday Gleaner. “In 2018, a block was fixed [but has started to leak again]. The other four blocks are down to be fixed, ... so each time it rains, the classrooms are flooded,” said Hutchinson, placing an emphasis on flooded.

SAFETY CONCERN

“The ceilings are dislodged and they are broken. In some classrooms, they are hanging, and that poses a threat to the safety of students and staff,” she further detailed, noting that hundreds of books in the library were destroyed.

“The leaks have now spiralled into an even bigger problem – an electrical problem,” said Hutchinson. “An assessment was done by an electrician, and there is [widespread] crystallisation and corrosion. At some points, some classrooms do not have current. We have been having dialogue [with the education ministry] and I was informed just three weeks ago that we are a priority school and that the school will be fixed in the next financial year.”

Last week, Latoya Harris-Ghartey, executive director of the National Education Trust in the education ministry, told The Sunday Gleaner that the building officer is now preparing the bill of quantities with detail material listing. This will allow the ministry to determine scope and cost of the needed repairs.

While Principal Hutchinson is hoping that there will be no catastrophe before the repairs are eventually done, the chairman is less optimistic about the wait, noting that if the rains continue, the roofs will not last.

“The rafting for the ceiling is rotten from being exposed to so much rain and water. I am not quarrelling about the rain. I am worried about what the excess rains will do, given the frequency since Hurricane Beryl. All of them, on all the blocks, rotten and waterlogged, especially at the source of the leaks. It is scary,” Broomfield said.

Built in 1927, Grove Primary and Infant School was upgraded in the 1970s, Hutchinson said, but she noted that the overall structure remains sound.

Located next to the Grove Town United Church, the school is staffed with 11 teachers. Its 150 children on roll hail from the adjoining districts of Smithfield, Resource, Cocoa Walk, Bosue Lane, Haughton Pond, and Lang Syne.

While the showers in the largely farming area are welcome by farmers, it is a burden to the school. When rain is imminent, the school activates its emergency plan.

‘MISS, IS IT TIME FOR US TO MOVE?’

“It’s a condition reflex for the students. Whenever it rains, they shout, ‘Miss, is it time for us to move?’ They know the drill. They take their bags and they go to the classrooms that are leaking the least. Everybody huddles in one place,” Hutchinson told The Sunday Gleaner.

“On consultation with the chairman and education officer, many days we dismiss early. As soon as it starts [to rain very heavily], we have to go ... . Many times, the janitor comes and cleans the school for Monday morning if the rain falls on the weekend. And if it falls on Sunday, Monday morning we do it again,” she explained.

The school’s infant department is about 50 metres from the main block and resource centre. The front is almost always flooded as there is no covering for the porch. One of the rooms at the facility has been abandoned, damaged by Beryl and made worse by the rains.

The school community rallies to manage the ongoing crisis. Teachers, parents, and even students help remove water from classrooms and secure teaching aids. Hutchinson, however, says she tries not to involve the eager children in the clean-up effort.

Hutchinson had high praises for the school’s PTA.

“Their support is excellent. They have undertaken projects every year. They are the ones that have been doing the perimeter wall and they have done painting every year, outfitted every classroom with wall fans; they upgraded the computer lab, they started the cleaning up of the fields. They come in with their whackers and machetes and they clean. So we have a very active PTA and [supportive] past students abroad. They donate so much. They donated CCTV cameras, smart TVs, projectors. Each time we call, they respond,” the principal said.

Despite the challenges, Grove Town Primary and Infant has always shown remarkable resilience, the principal said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers, parents, and past students ensured learning continued.

Teachers, parents, past students, and ancillary workers delivered work to children at home or took children into their homes to help them, Hutchinson recalled.

She said that in one instance, one parent had 20 students, navigating lessons through a mobile hotspot for students to be engaged online.

Lessons were also left at community shops and at certain homes in the community from which they could be picked up by the children on Tuesdays.

The effort led to 80 per cent student engagement during the pandemic. The students who were in grade one at the time have now achieved 100 per cent passes in literacy and numeracy at the grade four level.

Ahead of the reopening in September this year, the Manchester Health Department flagged issues like water sanitation and inadequate pest-proofing at the school. Although vector-control measures are in place, teachers report that the mosquitoes appear immune to treatments.

Grade five teacher Olive Lambert-Aljoe, whose child attends the infant department and has a bad reaction to mosquito bites, said even with repellent, there is no escape from the mosquitoes.

Despite everything, Principal Hutchinson remains hopeful. She praised the children for their resilience and the teachers for their commitment.

Hutchinson and Broomfield continue to advocate for urgent repairs, hoping the school’s cries for help will not go unanswered.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com