Bitter tirade

We don’t trust you.

That was the general consensus among scores of parents who Tuesday afternoon unleashed a tirade of criticism on Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Kenneth George for Government’s handling of the health and safety of their children enrolled at the Sharon Primary School.

In fact, they have joined teachers in demanding proof in “black and white” outlining the full extent of the issues, which started months ago.

Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw speaking with outspoken and concerned parents Felicia Cox and Jared Williams before leaving Tuesday evening’s meeting.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George.

But health officials have denied all allegations of mismanagement of the matter, collusion with nearby businesses or strategically hiding information.

The meeting, which started at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church after 4 p.m. was jam-packed with boisterous and passionate parents whose patience, had expired.

A team of health and environmental officials told parents the problems, initially linked to businesses in the area were narrowed down to a small spray-painting operation near the school and an abundance of painting materials left on the schools compound over the summer.

The CMO said the operation at a “domestic property” nearby had since been shut down and nearby businesses had made key changes.

However, parents were relentless with their questions. They demanded greater detail about the problems, questioned whether their children were exposed to fibre glass and if they should worry about future health problems occurring.

“We don’t trust you because of the lack of transparency. We want to see the report and we want to see it in black and white,” said Felicia Cox to Government officials and who, days before led a parent protest outside the Jackson Church of God.

She later told Barbados TODAY the information at the meeting was vague, parents felt officials were hiding information and criticised the Education Ministry’s “open-ended, quasi solution” to the problems.

“I felt as though they perhaps felt we would not understand… but there was no language they used that puzzled me and there was hardly any information that I thought was useful for me to protect my child’s health and that for me is the overall concern,” said Cox.

“We don’t know when students are going to go back into the school plant, we don’t know the timelines for accommodating them elsewhere and it doesn’t pass many people’s smell test.”

Meanwhile Kim Hoyte whose child was scheduled to start classes at Sharon said she was not “digesting” the information being given.

“At first it was one of the industrial places and they were asked to comply with some changes they had asked them to do. Now I am hearing it is some small man in the area that has a paint shop and they are also saying there is paint on the property of the school. I don’t know what these people are really telling themselves about the people in this country,” said the puzzled parent.

In response to the concerns, Dr George promised parents would get a copy of the reports from the relevant ministries and full disclosure would be given on all matters.

When pressed about whether Government had fallen short on their obligation to the affected citizens and their children, he said: “The Ministry of Health is always willing to engage parents but it must be done through the Ministry of Education.

“We in the ministry have always been very truthful. There is no collusion between the Ministry of Health and any business. When we closed Sheraton Centre, you all said something different. When we banned chicken wings, you all said something different. If the Ministry of Health has information that companies are breaching the Health Services Act, we will use our authority,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, other parents, including Jared Williams were happy that officials from the Ministries of Education and Health took the time to speak with parents but agreed that not much had been said.

“There’s nothing conclusive about it so we can’t say there’s a challenge in the school or out of the school and we are waiting to hear from the Ministry of Health so that at least we would feel comfortable about it,” said Williams.

“At least the class three and four students would be accommodated here at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church and we are awaiting that official report so the children could go to school.”

The outspoken parent however said he would not hesitate to step up the action if the performance of the two ministries remained unsatisfactory.

“I have signed the petition already and if we don’t see anything happening in a timely manner we will have to take it to the next level where we protest and let people know we are serious about our children’s education and health,” he said.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb