‘Not just an option’

Situated on a hillside overlooking the Hope River, a welcoming façade – brightened by a recent paint job – masks a plethora of challenges facing the 130-year-old Grove Primary and Infant School in Gordon Town, St Andrew.

Chief among the issues for the institution, which was founded by the Anglican Church, is the need for proper infrastructure to improve safety for staff and students.

During a Gleaner tour of the school last Tuesday, there was an evident need for bathroom stalls to be upgraded. Classrooms constructed with wood and zinc, which were said to have remained unchanged since the school’s founding in 1894, were also badly in need of renovation. There were also rails and perimeter fencing in need of rehabilitation. The school’s canteen and appliances are also in need of upgrades to be more functional.

Principal Francine Taylor Arnett recalled that during a period of heavy rainfall in 2019, a boulder rolled from the hillside and down into the school’s kitchen wall, shifting the roof, and weakening the structure.

“There was a big hole there and so we had to be creative in getting it repaired,” she told The Gleaner.

Taylor Arnett also pointed to an old deep freezer with a rotting lid that was still in use. She revealed that a health inspector had notified her that the rust needed to be addressed and that the rubber in the cover of the lid needed to be replaced.

“She (the inspector) said ... it’s either we’re gonna replace it with a new refrigerator or we change the rubbers and top,” Taylor Arnett said, noting that the deep freezer has been at the facility for more than a decade.

Taylor Arnett, who assumed office in 2021, stated that the school lacked a functional plumbing system when she first arrived, and that the education ministry assisted her in replacing all the piping infrastructure with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes, instead of reusing the galvanised pipes that would frequently clog with calcium build-up.

LACKING PROPER LIGHTING

She added that the compound also lacked proper lighting, recalling that she would have to use the flashlight on her phone to navigate her way, whenever she stayed at school until late in the evenings.

This prompted her to install a few fixtures and upgrade the entire lighting infrastructure.

“Even though we have made some significant changes, looking at the structure, you would think that nothing is being done. So, can you imagine how it was before?” she said.

According to Taylor Arnett, one of her objectives is to rehabilitate the now-abandoned building of the St Joseph the Grove Basic School to get on board with the ministry’s Brain Builders programme by registering two- and three-year-olds.

This, she said, would ultimately help in increasing the enrolment of students as they can be filtered into the school’s infant department, and so on.

There are approximately 110 students enrolled at present, with 18 to 20 students in each class. There is one class for each grade level, from grades one to six, along with two infant classes.

The principal stated that there were also two classrooms in disrepair and had been left abandoned.

The headmaster stated that one way she has tried to increase its numbers was by attempting to “market” the school by going into the surrounding community and sharing what it offers.

“My objective at Grove is to improve on the legacy that is already here and to ensure that Grove no longer stays where it is, but to be a school of choice and not an option,” Taylor Arnett told The Gleaner, noting that the institution had the capacity to cater to more than 300 students.

To keep the school functioning, Taylor Arnett appealed to corporate Jamaica, the past students’ association, and other stakeholders to help address these issues and to “bring back the joy and love that was once here”.

Administrators fear that if the circumstances do not improve and enrolment fails to increase, the school may have to close.

“I am inviting our past students and other NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and even government entities to partner with us in whatever way you can to assist,” she said.

Taylor Arnett has also been successful in creating reading and mathematics intervention programmes since her arrival. Sponsors have also played a major role in helping to build the newly developed reading and mathematics rooms, along with a library.

However, she added, the school’s academic performance is still below both the national and quality education circle (QEC) levels. The QEC is made up of all early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions situated within a specific geographic area.

Taylor Arnett also said that the National Education Inspectorate rated the school as “unsatisfactory” for its overall performance in its last assessment.

ON WAY TO CERTIFICATION

The principal said the school is about 70 per cent along the way to fulfilling the Early Childhood Commission’s criteria for registration and certification.

“We have a set of qualified and nurturing staff. Our non-teaching staff are no less. Our board is very supportive [and] the church is very involved in our everyday activities here at school,” she said of the institution, which has 10 teachers and three caregivers on roll.

She noted, however, that the administrative department is lacking the technology to operate optimally.

Taylor Arnett acknowledged that given the difficulties, there was low morale among teachers.

Many of the pupils – the majority of whom are from Mud Town, Kintyre, Mount Industry, Cornfield, and others coming from as far as Molynes Road – also fail to show up for school up to three times. This has added to the teachers’ frustration.

When investigated, the reasons given for absences are unemployment of parents, no food at home, and lack of bus fare.

Despite the school holding consultations to get parents more involved, the principal said there is still a significant “deficit” in parental involvement.

The school provides students with lunch, writing supplies, exercise books and textbooks. Additionally, it often gives parents food and care packages with the help of sponsors.

“Many of us, from the groundsman to the principal, have to pull from our pockets many times to provide books, lunch sometimes – even to provide uniform and socks, you name it – for some of our children. It’s not like we have it, but we want for our children ... to come to school and so we encourage them [to] come to school and we will give you the bus fare,” she explained.

“I think for some of the parents, they are not seeing the real value of education, and I really believe that the mindset needs to change for us to really grow,” she lamented.

This concern is reflected in the mental states and behaviour of the children, who, according to Taylor Arnett, have a variety of social issues for which the school was unprepared to provide support, given that they did not have their own guidance counsellor. Grove Primary and Infant School, however, occasionally benefits from the services of the guidance counsellor at Louise Bennett-Coverley Primary School.

Despite these obstacles, the administrator is optimistic that things will improve.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com