Move to rename Cacoon Primary School in honour of Bustamante

Cacoon Primary and Infant School, in Hanover, which gave a sterling performance while delivering a cultural item at the recent ceremony, staged in Blenheim, Hanover, to mark the 139th birthday of National Hero Sir Alexander Bustamante could soon have their school renamed in his honour.

At the most recent monthly meeting of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), a motion was tabled by Councillor Devon Brown, of the Hopewell division of the HMC; and seconded by Mayor Sheridan Samuels, calling for the renaming of the school. The motion was voted on and accepted by all the councillors.

While the idea to rename the school appears to have broad-based support across the parish, the renaming is not the sole prerogative of the HMC as the school is a grant-in-aid educational institution, which is owned and operated by the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, albeit it gets grants from the government.

“What it would mean is that they cannot just change the name like that, there would have to be some agreement from the church which owns the school,” said Christine Hooper-Johnson, president of the Cacoon Community Development Committee (CDC), “I do not think any member of the community would have a problem with the renaming of that school, as Sir Alexander is from this area. I personally would not have a problem with it.”

HAPPY TO KNOW

Antoinette Levy-Riley, the school’s principal, told The Gleaner that the over 170 students attending the school would be happy to know that their cultural performance at the 139th birthday anniversary of Sir Alexander might have sparked the decision to seek to change the name of the school.

“The idea came out of our cultural presentation at the birthday celebration, and we did not expect it to have such an immediate effect,” said Levy-Riley, “I would fully support such a move, but there would have to be a consultation within the community, also with the school board, and all the stakeholders attached to the institution.”

The item performed by the students at the ceremony to honour Sir Alexander was entitled, ‘Papa Busta’. It was written by Nervalene Crooks, a senior teacher at the school. A part of the presentation said, “So authorities, we a beg you, please go to Babsy Grange so she can hear we plea, even rename Cacoon Primary to Bustamante, a fi him long time school you see.”

The call for the renaming of the school comes sharply on the heels of a call by Deputy Mayor of Lucea Andria Dehaney-Grant for a museum highlighting the work and life of Sir Alexander to be established in the parish of Hanover.

Reverend Glenroy Clarke, the senior pastor at the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, in Hanover, said any discussion about renaming the school would require a conversation with the United Church Synod.