Prinicipal hopeful for the coming months

BY NADINE WILSON

Career & Education staff reporter

wilsonn@jamaicaobserver.com

FOUNDER of the Adonijah Group of Schools Ruthlyn James was, up to recently, prepared to close the doors on their operations due to mounting economic woes. But thanks to the generosity of a few corporate entities and individuals, she does not have to.

James opened the Adonijah Group of Schools — comprised of a kindergarten, a special education, a preparatory and a junior high school — at her home off Hagley Park Road in Kingston in 2008, to add to the limited number of special needs schools on the island. But due to the inability of some parents to pay the $40,000 per term tuition, the school soon began to operate at a loss.

“I basically felt like giving up… When the bill collectors are coming, and you don’t see the first dime to pay them and when you owe your teachers and it’s not fair to have people working and not paying them… It really took a toll on me,” she said.

Despite having received only one tuition payment for the new school term up to two weeks ago, the principal is optimistic that things will be better this academic year. Her optimism is due primarily to those who have opted to help, either through offering money, donating their services to repair the physical structure or sponsoring select students.

“We have actually gotten an accountant to come and work with us for one year for free,” James said, adding that the accountant came from the Media Companies of Jamaica Limited.

She noted that having such a professional on board will help the school to better manage its finances, which will enable them to keep operating in the interest of the 75 children currently enrolled.

In addition to the accountant, Scotiabank Jamaica and the Deliverance Evangelistic Association have donated $100,000 each while the Jamaica Public Service Company has donated a water tank and will provide lunch subsidies for the students. First Caribbean International Bank has donated material for a new fence and two individuals have come on board to sponsor two children at the institution.

“We are getting assistance and that’s the reason why I said you know what? Let us give it another try. And as we continue, I know that we will get better,” she told Career & Education.

Although the chances of receiving the $5 million needed to run the school for the year seem slim, James intends to press on with plans to offer occupational therapy, speech therapy and language therapy.

“If the child does not get that intervention, then that child is going to be dependent on an adult for the rest of his or her life,” she said, adding that such offerings were especially important for the autistic children who form a part of the student body.

Because the school is a private institution, James said they do not receive financial assistance from the Ministry of Education. Still, she is unable to turn away a child whose parents are unable or unwilling to pay the tuition.

“We cater for mainly the low-income people. We also cater to a lot of children from the community. I think a lot of them don’t have their priorities in place,” James said. “We send out letters and we speak to them. We do have some parents that we understand that they might be in a financial bind and now and again they will come in and make their part payments. But then you do have some of them who just refuse to answer phones and whenever you do send home a letter, they keep the child home.”

And so she takes them back.

“A lot of these children require life skills,” she said. “But I think I need to be a little bit more firmer myself.”

School cap:

A section of the Adonijah Group of Schools located off Hagley Park Road in Kingston. Founder Ruthlyn James transformed her home into the group of schools, which is comprised of a kindergarten, a special education, a preparatory and a junior high school. (Photos: Joseph Wellington)

Teacher cap:

Special education teacher Glenford Whitmore teaches eight-year-old Alex Blake from a chart in the small library at the Adonijah Group of Schools.

Student cap:

Principal of Adonijah Group of Schools Ruthlyn James assists three-year-old Nailah Watkis, who has cerebral palsy.

Classroom cap:

Founder of the Adonijah Group of Schools Ruthlyn James shows off one of the classrooms at the institution.

Auditorium cap:

Ruthlyn James, founder and principal of the Adonijah Group of Schools, plans to transform this space into an auditorium some day.