Gun violence forces Homestead Primary back online
Published:Friday | June 17, 2022 | 12:10 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Three months after relieved students of the Homestead Primary and Infant School were allowed to resume face-to-face classes after COVID-19 restrictions forced them online, they were yet again relegated to the virtual set-up as a recent flare-up of violence near the Spanish Town-based institution threatened their safety.
Despite a 48-hour curfew imposed in sections of the St Catherine capital until Thursday, a 44-year-old woman was shot dead on Wednesday night along Pittsburgh Avenue, metres from the school’s perimeter wall.
The victim, Nekeisha Pottinger, was the most recent person shot at her gate.
Another woman and a one-year-old were grazed by bullets in that shooting.
With fear gripping the area, the school remained closed on Thursday.
When contacted by The Gleaner on Thursday morning, Principal Sophia Deer said that she would be engaging the school board on the matter and providomg an update afterwards. Up to press time, she was still locked in a meeting.
One teacher noted that students of the many schools across Spanish Town are scared because of the upsurge in violence, which has claimed several lives this week. Many parents are also not willing to take any chances by sending their young ones out to school.
A deadly daylight attack, which claimed three lives in the busy Spanish Town market district on Tuesday, had also shaken up many students.
“In one class, the child said, ‘Mi fraid, y’know’, because she lives around the area where the thing happened [on Tuesday], and she said ‘Mi fraid, y’know, Miss, because di man dem just a run up and down with the gun so and we affi hide’,” the teacher, who did not want to be identified, told The Gleaner.
Education Minister Fayval Williams yesterday acknowledged the prevailing tension and fear, noting that the best option was for the teachers and students from Homestead Primary and Infant School to return to online sessions.
“It’s a very very unfortunate situation that has impacted our students in a very real way. They continue to be online. We would have hoped that the school would have resumed face-to-face [lessons]; however, the shooting in the community [has prevented that],” Williams told The Gleaner.
She said that the police will be working with schools to provide some amount of safety assurance when they return to school.
“We’re monitoring, and if there is a need for intervention, with regard to needs that students or parents may have, we would, of course, assess and do what we can,” Williams said.