Principal urges community to tackle rising violence

n the day it was formed 130 years ago, The Alexandra School found itself tightening security measures after a 15-year-old student was stabbed with a knife by a fellow schoolmate.

Principal David McCarthy confirmed that random searches of students would now be conducted throughout the school term, even as some parents complained about not giving permission for their children to be searched.

Speaking after a Founder’s Day service at the Speightstown, St Peter school, McCarthy provided further details of the incident which resulted in one student being hospitalised and the early closure of the school on Monday.

“During the lunch period, we had an altercation at the school involving two boys, both 15 years of age. In this altercation, one of the boys received stab wounds,” he explained. “[He] was brought to the office here, his parent was contacted as well as the parent of the other child who inflicted the wounds. The police were called in and an investigation ensued.”

The injured student was treated at a nearby polyclinic and later discharged. Both students involved in the altercation are to be suspended, the principal said, though declining to give details about the length of those suspensions.

Emphasising that violence is not tolerated at the school, McCarthy declared: “We have strict rules to deal with altercations of any sort, and we will invoke those regulations. We also took the opportunity to implement a full search of the student body coming in.”

Videos circulated on social media showed large numbers of students waiting in the rain at the school gate as they underwent searches.

“We had a large number of students arriving late when we first started the procedure. Everything was running smoothly but there was a rush of students who arrived late for various reasons that contributed to the bottleneck and the discomfort that some may have endured,” McCarthy explained. “And for that, we sincerely apologise to those students for that discomfort that they may have experienced in making their way into the school.”

“There were some issues and some fallouts [but]we will seek to correct and go forward on a better stead,” he said.

Noting that the school has the legal authority to conduct searches to ensure a safe environment, the principal said: “What we are realising, though, in conducting searches like this, is that a number of parents remain ignorant of the authority of the school to conduct searches. Parents were inquiring why they were not told that there were searches to take place. It is not practice to inform parents or anybody that a search is taking place. There are some parents who are saying that they do not or they have not given permission for a search to occur. This is erroneous. The school is by law authorised, through its agents, to conduct searches from time to time at the discretion of the administration of the school and those searches have particular specific guidelines. It’s not a hot and sweaty affair. What we conducted at the gate was a routine search involving the use of a scanner.”

Section 64A of the Education Act authorises school officials to search students if there are reasonable grounds to suspect possession of prohibited items, such as weapons or illegal substances, that could disrupt the school environment. This provision ensures that searches are not arbitrary but based on specific safety concerns. It also emphasises that searches should be conducted respectfully, upholding the dignity and rights of students, with further procedural details potentially outlined in school policies or regulations.

A senior official from the Ministry of Education, along with representatives from the Barbados Union of Teachers, the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, and the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools, visited the school on Tuesday. Police officers were also present.

Barbados TODAY understands that the union representatives wanted to check in on staff but that plan was affected by the Founder’s Day service.

The stabbing has heightened concerns about the infiltration of societal violence into the school system. McCarthy expressed deep worry over the trend and called for collective action from parents and the wider community to address the issue.

“Such an event is problematic and I don’t want to say that it is more problematic here and less elsewhere; it is system-wide. We have a problem, a serious problem in our society with violence. A lot of it stems from the community and comes into the school and we are trying our very best to keep our school as safe as it can be. But we need the support of the community of the families to support us,” the principal said.

Parents must also play a greater role in suggesting ideas and cooperating with the school to ensure it was an environment conducive to learning, he added.

“There are too many instances where parents are very quick to find fault, to point, but very few sometimes are coming forward with reasonable suggestions for the way forward,” McCarthy said.

“We get cases of parents saying ‘this thing happened, but I don’t want my child to be mentioned’ and sometimes they’re giving so many strictures, what then do you do? You don’t want me to approach the child to say anything to the child. You don’t want me to speak to the perpetrator because you’re afraid of reprisals. We are becoming a society that is very fearful of everything. We are reluctant to stand up on the side of justice and righteousness. And that continues to be a concern to [me] here at this school and I believe it’s a concern of all principles, at all levels – primary, secondary, tertiary. We have a general problem of violence in the society that needs a serious look and intervention.”

This is the first incident of its kind at Alexandra under McCarthy’s leadership since his assignment to the institution in September last year. While students were shaken by the event, McCarthy said the large turnout on Tuesday was a positive sign.

“They’re in a state, I believe, of recovery,” he said.

“This perhaps has more to do with the regularity of violence in our society – that when it happens, it has a shock value for a while and then it disappears until the next. We, however, are seeking to not have a next situation like this.”

He added that counselling was available to both students and staff.

Named for the Princess of Wales and wife of the future King Edward VII, The Alexandra School was founded on September 24, 1894, by George May Dalzell Frederick, then the Anglican Archdeacon of Barbados and Rector of St Peter. From a modest enrollment of 33 students on Queen’s Street, Speightstown, the school’s evolution has seen the former girls’ high school move to its current location in 1929, becoming co-educational in 1984 and currently serving approximately 870 students.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb