‘My name is Reid but I can’t read, your honour’
Award-winning primary school groundsman recalls tough childhood
Published:Monday | May 13, 2024 | 12:06 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
Two pink poui trees shed their flowers by the hundreds in the front yard of the St Andrew Primary School but Denis Reid doesn’t mind; he sweeps them with pride. At 70 years old, he has finally found purpose. And this is it.
He is a groundsman – the best in at least four parishes islandwide, according to the 2024 Best Kept School and Community Competition put on by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), in collaboration with several other state entities.
Started in 2020, the competition highlights best practices in schools and 10 communities that benefit from JSIF investments. The communities include some in the Corporate Area, St James, and Westmoreland – all the violent, hard-pressed areas in which zones of special operation (ZOSOs) were declared.
The initiative was funded by the Government under the Integrated Community Development Project at a cost of $2 million. It featured a two-day training session at the HEART NSTA/Trust Ebony Park facility in Clarendon – in school safety and security, landscaping and grounds maintenance, and CPR and first-aid.
Reid, a resident of Trench Town in Kingston, is glad for the training, and for the trophy, toolkit, and cellular phone he won as prizes from the competition. However, nothing tops the bubbling pride from the recognition of his achievement – particularly the recognition from the students he serves.
They represent hope, he explained, hope he never had while running from home poor at nine years old, or after being kicked out of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and having to hide from police steady on his and his friends’ tails in Trench Town.
His story is ripe with child abuse and follows a boy hustling anything he could find in downtown Kingston before being picked up from the streets months later by the police. His plea to a judge, who decided he would be sent back home after hearing his situation, changed his life, and has resonated with him to this day.
ULTIMATE TREACHERY
“I said, ‘Your honour, I don’t want to go back home,” he recalled. “She asked me why not and I said, ‘Because, ma’am, my name is Reid and me can’t read, ma’am.”
It was the ultimate treachery in those times – a son calling the police or speaking out against his parents in court. But even at nine years old, Reid knew it was his only escape from an abusive father, with whom he was living after his mother deserted them from childhood. He has only seen his mother four times, and only since adulthood.
“Those times I wasn’t going to school, all they did was send me to shop and those places. I was never getting any education,” he said, adding that his utterances caused the judge to place him at the Alpha Boys’ Home in Kingston where he spent the rest of his childhood learning various trades and music, which landed him in the JDF.
His stint in the security forces was shortlived, however, as wayward influences from his community presented themselves in his life. He was thrown out of the military after being found by police riding an unregistered motorcycle. There might be other contributing factors, Reid admitted. Some, after being dismissed from the army, had him running from the police.
But that was many years ago and, since then, Reid said he has been using the lessons he learned as a teenager to earn a living. He started working at the primary school just under two years ago, and has nowhere going any time soon, he said.
“The best part is to see the students run up to me and say, ‘Sir, sir! Is you I saw on TV?” he said. “I saw some other students, I don’t even know them; they know me, who also give me commendations. When a little youth can show some appreciation it means something, you feel it in your heart,” he said, his facial expression giving away his sincerity.
DAY-TO-DAY CAREGIVER
“I have done a lot of work here and there but this work, I like it because I don’t have to break much of a sweat. And you know what they say: ‘If you do something that you love, it is like you are not working a day in your life’. I love this work,” he reiterated, adding that in addition to keeping the grounds, he considers himself a day-to-day caregiver for the students.
He is one of the first adults they see when they arrive each morning and one of the last they see when school is dismissed. He greets them with a smile, knowing fully well some may be facing similar hardships at home to those of his childhood.
In lauding Reid’s achievement, principal of the school, Colleen Gordon, cited Reid’s congeniality and rapport with students and staff.
“I am honoured that my groundsman is the best in all the primary schools in Kingston. I’m so happy. He has been very respectful, he does anything I ask him to do readily and the children praise him,” she said, adding that next year the hope is for the school to win the award for the cleanest school.
This year, St Andrew Primary also walked away with the award for the Best Kept School Greenspace; while Treadlight Primary, also in Kingston, won the award for the Best Kept School Greenhouse, and Best Traditional School Garden. Anchovy Primary School, in St James, won the award for the Best Kept School Grounds. Edward Seaga Primary in Kingston finished second, while St Andrew Primary rounded off the top three for that award
JSIF’s Mona Suho said the best groundsman award was given to the candidate who demonstrated knowledge of agriculture, landscaping techniques, and tool management skills.
“The Best Groundsman award was created by the JSIF to recognise the efforts of those who work in the shadows but are the lifeblood of their schools,” offered Suho. “Through their dedicated work, students and staff operate in a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing and healthier environment. We are proud to be the conceptualiser of this award.”