Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Hopeton Henry has urged school administrators to strengthen ties with the communities in which they are situated in an effort to reduce criminal activities affecting schools.

Henry was responding to last Tuesday’s Daily Observer lead story regarding Woodlands Primary and Basic schools which have both been broken into 25 times within five months.

“One of the things that I have found out in my years as a practising teacher and administrator is that you can only be successful if you have very strong ties with the community, and I am referring to very strong ties that can deal with problems and issues in the community,” Henry told the Sunday Observer.

“The school is in the community, and as administrator, if your links are not strengthened at the level of the community the school is going to have problems; the community must see the school as their own and the school must see the community as their own,” Henry argued.

Henry had raised the issue in his back-to-school address earlier this month, appealing then for schools and communities to forge ties that could benefit both parties.

Henry described the Woodlands issue as a crisis and said it appeared that the community has been isolated from the school. He suggested that the schools, in general, be proactive in terms of taking issues to the community and mobilising community leaders to forge such links.

“The churches and the civic organisations also need to be involved here, but the school must take the lead in going to the community,” Henry suggested.

Since November, the Woodlands Primary School has been broken into 10 times and the basic school, which is on the same property, has been broken into 15 times since last September.

Each time thieves break in they steal food items that are used to prepare meals for the children.

Initially, access to the primary school was gained through the roof, but since corrective measures were put in place the burglars now gain entry through the doors and windows.

The primary school has been forced to spend over $40,000 to purchase padlocks in an effort to keep out the thieves.

But the JTA boss argued that such spending amounts to a waste of money.

“What we need to do, instead of band-aiding the problem, we need to get to the root of the problem as to why people are breaking into the school, and when that problem is solved, we will be able to deal with this,” Henry said.

“These primary schools are starved of resources, and it is really a waste to be spending so much money on buying padlocks. That is not helping the problem, we need to get to the root of the problem in the community,” he added.

glichristc@jamaicaobserver.com