Busy Bee Basic School to rotate students
Published:Wednesday | January 12, 2022 | 12:05 AMShanna Monteith/Gleaner Writer
Though excited about the long-anticipated resumption of face-to-face classes, the principal of Busy Bee Basic School in Yallahs, St Thomas, Eugenie Hayden-Allen, is admitting that the challenges that will come with the reopening cannot be ignored.
Financial and capacity restraints, coupled with a noted lack of community support, are teething pains of the new term ahead, according to the headmistress.
FOOTING THE BILL
Chief among the financial concerns is the added burden of electricity theft, an offence that the small institution, which has been serving the community for over three decades, has been subject to over the past few years.
Hayden-Allen told The Gleaner that the school is now footing a bill of nearly $100,000.
“We were charged $98,000 for a period between July and September (2021), even though the school has been closed for the past 19 months. We were disconnected, and so we had to find a large sum of money to get reconnected. Our meter is at the top of the lane and persons have been cutting in on it,” she said, adding that they are now making preparations to move the meter closer to the school compound.
The principal shared that several complaints have been made to the authorities, but they have seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
The school recently regained electricity after agreeing to a payment plan to cover the hefty bill.
Among other concerns, Hayden-Allen also shared that the school will now have to maximise its resources and restructure its classes to ensure proper COVID-19 protocols are adhered to.
“The most challenging thing is that we will have to be doing rotational attendance because we have 81 students and we cannot have them all here at once. We cannot have more than 10 students in a class per day,” she said, sharing that the proposals make-up includes one class for three-year-olds, one for four-year-olds, and two classes for students who are five years of age.
The rotational structure will see some students attending classes three days per week and others, two.
With five dedicated teachers aboard, Hayden-Allen, who noted that less than 50 per cent of the school’s population showed up for online classes, shared that they will be doing their best to tackle the learning loss that children would have endured during the closure of the building.
NO TIME TO HELP
“Parents complained that they didn’t have time to stay with and help their children with the online [classes]. Another challenge we are looking at is that though the parents were anticipating the reopening, many aren’t prepared. Many are saying they don’t have uniforms or money. The school is not really government-aided so, as such, we charge for school fees and lunch,” she said, adding that the institution is willing to surmount its hurdles to continue serving to the best of its ability.
Hayden-Allen was speaking at a handover ceremony where representatives of the Kingston-based Regions Financial Services were donating five office chairs to the staff.
Expressing her gratitude, she said, “We are really appreciative, because we needed them ... some of the teachers didn’t have any chairs and if we were to buy them, they would have cost a great deal of money. We are thankful.”
She revealed that the microfinance company has contributed to the institution in the past.
In explaining their interest in Busy Bee Basic School, Marketing Director of Regions Financial Services Shanna Thompson noted that the manager of the company is an alumnus.
“We reached out to Ms Hayden-[Allen] to see how we could help many years ago, and, with donations, we were able to pave the front of the school. Since then, we have been partnering with the school, not just as alumni, but with the thought that it’s a community that helps a basic school; to help in whatever way we can,” she said.