FOR the past 32 years, despite the disadvantage of not having a permanent home, the Montego Bay School of Hope has managed to provide care for dozens of mentally challenged children between the ages of six and 18.

Now, there is an attempt to expand the institution at its latest location and provide enough space to move the number of students up from 35 to 100.

“It has been a nomadic school, just going round and round not having anywhere special,” explained school co-ordinator Brenda Atkins. “We went in some buildings and then had to come out, we had no special location. It was over a year there was no school, sometimes for months we were just moving about.”

One of the 30 Hope Schools across the island, the Montego Bay facility was first located near the western city’s Courts furniture store, where it spent a week. The next stop was the Red Cross Centre at Brandon Hill, where the school was officially launched in 1971.

But that location, by its very nature, was difficult to use as classes would be disrupted with every natural disaster. Finally, after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, the school moved to the Church of Nazarene in the Salt Spring community.

“From there, we went to the Seventh-day Adventist Church at Catherine Hall and we were in their building for three years, going in and out,” Atkins said. “Now we are next door to that church. We were about to leave that place and not have anywhere to go and so I sought land that was next door.”

The land was acquired from the water and housing ministry. Funds were raised and with the help of a parent, Atkins drew up the plans for the small dwelling that looks like a house from the outside.

“We want to go further because so many children want a space,” Atkins lamented. “And we are going to get some help from the authorities but they say the Parent Teachers’ Association must raise some funds to back that up. So we are seeking help and that is why we are having this tag drive.”

The tag drive will be officially launched next Tuesday. “The money will be used for additional classes and for fencing of the land, to put in toilets, workroom and lunchroom. We need a lot of facilities for skills training and so on because that’s very important and so that’s why we are doing it,” Atkins said.

Children with special needs, she stressed, need the room to move about and cannot be packed into small classrooms.

“Often when you say to somebody, ‘we don’t have space’, they cannot understand that these are special children so you can’t just throw down 20 or 30 in a class. Because even when you have 10 in one class, it’s hard,” she said. “They are special and you have to give them individual attention.”

Some of the disorders School of Hope students are faced with include mental retardation, Downs Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and some have multiple defects.

At the age of 12, School of Hope students enter the facility’s pre-vocational training programme where attempts are made to provide them with skills that will make it easier for them to assimilate into society. Some are placed in jobs at age 18 while others may become self-employed.

But according to Atkins, the programme is being hampered by the lack of space and equipment.

It costs $1,325 per year to enrol students up to age 12. That fee is broken down into $800 for the school, $275 for mandatory insurance, $100 for parents to be automatically enrolled in the Jamaica Association for People with Mental Retardation and $150 for maintenance fees.

Students over 12 pay an additional $200 for skills training.

And while she is now focusing on the expansion of the Montego Bay facility, Atkins also has her eye on a similar plan for the school in Lucea that she also manages. That school has about 15 students enrolled.