Waiting game

By Sheria Brathwaite

The Ministry of Education is one step closer to deciding whether the Lester Vaughan School will resume in-person classes, Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Bradshaw-Archer said on Friday.

Following a nearly three-hour meeting with parents and officials at Queen’s College in Husbands, St James, Dr Bradshaw-Archer told journalists that she and her team would be taking into account the suggestions the parents made to make a final decision on the way forward for the Cane Garden, St Thomas school which has been plagued with air quality issues.

“During the meeting, several questions were asked, concerns were raised and I was glad to have on hand (the author of the air quality test) Mr Ian Weekes, who could answer the questions related to the air quality report and the findings,” she said. “Some ideas were shared by the parents with regard to moving forward and I want to assure you that the Ministry of Education will look at those ideas and consider them before a final decision is made with regard to what will happen with the Lester Vaughan School. 

“The next step would be for me to meet with the technical team at the Ministry of Education, analyse all the input from the teachers and other members of staff as well as the parents, and make a decision with regard to the Lester Vaughan School. As soon as we make that decision, we will communicate with all parties, the unions, the teachers, the principal Chairman of the board of Management and, most importantly, the parents.”

Scores of parents attended the meeting, which was also facilitated virtually for those who could not attend in person.

The parents also raised their concerns with the chairman of the school’s board of management, Dr Donley Carrignton, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George, Chief Environmental Health Officer Dr Francina Bascombe and other top civil servants.

Dr Carrington told reporters: “The Board of Management of the Lester Vaughan School will continue to work with parents and teachers to ensure that the plant is safe and that we create a healthy working environment for all persons who use the plant. We will do all that is in our power. We will continue to ensure that any problems that are identified, the board will move with alacrity to ensure that those problems are fixed.”

Principal Suzette Holder said teachers were willing to work during the two-week school break to help senior-year CXC students with their student-based assessments (SBAs). 

“We have amazing teachers and I’m confident that they will do all that they can to ensure that those students that are doing SBAs will be accommodated,” she said. “Of course, they will be encouraged, and if we have to seek external help and assistance for our location, we will do that. But we will put everything in place to ensure that the SBAs are completed. We are about 90 per cent complete at this time, and I am confident that by next week Friday, all will be well.”

Last Thursday, during a walk-through to see the remediation work at Lester Vaughan, Dr Archer-Bradshaw said there were 250 fourth-form and fifth-form students undergoing SBAs and special accommodation was made for them at Daryll Jordan Secondary, The St Michael School, Combermere. Christ Church Foundation, Jackmans Seventh-Day Adventist Church and the Duncan C Moore Educational Centre.

But on Friday, Lester Vaughan head boy Jaden Nurse-Harewood said he and several of his peers were unaware of this development, struggled to finish their assessments and were worried about their CXC performance.

“I was not informed,” said the senior prefect. “I do mechanical engineering at the CXC level and I have not been informed about my practical as yet and this has been a month and three weeks since school has shut,” he said, adding that he was so concerned about his classmates that he shared some of his work with them. “I can’t hog education, it is vital for everyone. A number of my peers reached out to me and they asked what needs to be done to finish the SBAs.”

He added: “I would like to see the school reopened during the two-week break and the [management of the school] be informative to the public because this is a public school.”

But Principal Holder said: “I’m not aware of that. We have been using the Duncan Moore Educational Centre. It was used heavily this week. Every day the teachers who had those practical subjects have been there. Up to today, they have been working tirelessly. So I’m not aware of any persons who would not have known that we weren’t accommodating those students who had to finish SBAs.”

At the meeting with parents, Dr Carrington said that to date, $2 million has been spent in remedial work on environmental issues at the school since 2018.

Parents expressed concern about the odour their children were inhaling and questioned why the air quality test was not done immediately after the first smoke test revealed severe leaks in the sewage system. They argued that it would have made sense to do the test then so it could be determined what the occupants of the compound were breathing.

Parents also complained that their children were falling ill with similar symptoms to that of teachers, including nausea, headaches and shortness of breath.

Dr Archer-Bradhsaw said she was unaware that students were also feeling ill, adding that she only found out recently from a news report.

She said she reached out to the head of the parent-teacher association and asked for a list of students who experienced symptoms. 

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb