WESTERN BUREAU: After months of trying to find a replacement for retired principal Hugh Dawes, the board of the St James High School in Montego Bay is expected to appoint a new school head in time for the Easter term, which begins in January.

“Already we have a number of applicants and within another two weeks we will start to interview them for the post,” board chairman Lee Bailey, told the Observer .

He added that after the interviews have been completed, the selected candidate’s application would be sent to the Ministry of Education for final approval.

“This we expect will be done by January next year,” he added.

The St James High School has been without a principal since early 2001, when Dawes retired from the post.

Shortly after his retirement, the board interviewed more than 13 potential replacements and selected one of the candidates to fill the vacancy.

But according to Bailey, “the person did not take up the post as his circumstances changed and he migrated.”

Since then, the board has been advertising the position in the local newspapers and has expressed confidence that the vacancy will be filled soon.

According to Bailey, the absence of a principal at the school has prevented the institution from moving forward.

“We have a lot of goals for the school but this thing (no principal) has been distracting the board from taking decision in respect to propelling the school forward,” he said.

“We are trying to find somebody (principal) with administrative ability because the administration at the school needs to be streamlined. We don’t want to bog down ourselves in administration because we want to get involved in the development of the youngsters,” Bailey added.

The new principal will have to be a firm disciplinarian as the St James High School, formally called Montego Bay Secondary School, has a history of violence.

In June, Fabian Gordon, a 17 year-old student was allegedly stabbed to death by another student on the school’s compound. There has also been other reported cases of students injuring each other.

Bailey however downplayed the suggestion that the history of violence at the institution has made it difficult to recruit a principal.

“I am not sure if there is any fear, but we are going to find the appropriate principal for that institution. The institution is going to prove to be one of the best in Montego Bay once we have the person with the ability we are looking for,” Bailey vowed.