Education ministry promises repairs to fire-damaged buildings at Seaforth High
Published:Monday | May 20, 2019 | 12:14 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
Karl Samuda, the minister with responsibility for education, has disclosed that the ministry is assessing the damage caused by fire at Seaforth High School in St Thomas and will be making repairs to the facility.
Reports are that at approximately 5 a.m. on May 4, caretakers at the school were alerted to the fire, which destroyed the visual arts department and other sections, including the technical drawing, cosmetology and building technology departments, which suffered water and smoke damage.
“We are doing an assessment of the damage, and we will repair it; and it will be better than it was before,” Samuda said at a forum with education stakeholders from St Thomas, St Mary and Portland, held at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education in Passley Gardens, Portland, last week.
It is believed the fire resulted from an electrical problem. The school was scheduled to be rewired, having been previously found to have electrical short circuiting, but that exercise did not happen in time.
Sections of the building had visible cracks, resulting in leaks and material exposure.
Samuda commended the school’s principal, Colbert Thomas, for putting arrangements in place for students to continue their education, particularly those sitting external examinations.
“That is the greatest exhibition of commitment … with that kind of leadership at Seaforth, the students can look to greater heights,” Samuda said.
When The Gleaner visited the school shortly after the fire, Thomas said he was determined to pick up the pieces and rebuild, underscoring the importance of the block which was destroyed.
“It’s the signature of the school, you know,” a sombre-sounding Thomas said, pointing to artwork produced by students hanging on the walls of his office mere metres away from the scorched block.
The principal said the school’s administration would be putting in place contingencies to ensure that school reopened the following day, but stressed that there was a great need for resources to help rebuild.
“I need tables for the visual arts students, I need stools, and I also need plyboard and other boards, because I am trying to build a temporary area where students can practise,” he told The Gleaner at the time.
Speaking with The Gleaner a few weeks later, he indicated that help was pouring in from the ministry and the member of parliament for Western St Thomas, James Robertson.
Thomas, who said he is unable to say what the estimated damage was, explained that reports following the assessment revealed that major rehabilitation works will be needed to restore the burnt-out section of the school.
The scope of the work, according to the principal, is to include the demolition and reconstruction of the walls and repairs to the flooring of the structure.
“The fact that visual arts students were displaced by the fire, I am hoping that by the end of June things will be back to normal. In fact, I was given the assurance that they will start as early as the end of May,” Thomas said recently.
He said Robertson has provided two 40-foot containers to store items salvaged from the damaged buildings.