BALACLAVA, St Elizabeth – AFTER 38 years of service to Balaclava Primary School, principal Roy Waysome will retire in August.

So it was with a sense of “joy and happiness” that he welcomed scores of volunteers who turned up to build a fence and paint the school buildings for what was the official Labour Day St Elizabeth ‘parish project’ on Monday.

“Most of the fencing was done and most of the painting… what’s left we can accomplish,” said Waysome at day’s end.

He recalled that he had been trying “for years” to have the fencing done — even securing a quantity of material but “better late than never”.

Everton Fisher, councillor for the Balaclava Division (North East St Elizabeth) said the project was “in honour of the principal” for his years of dedicated service to the school including 15 at the helm.

Fisher said that the Ministry of Local Government and the Tourism Product Development Company had provided $100,000 towards the purchase of paint and fittings for the perimetre fencing. The Parish Council had also assisted in providing meals.

This year’s Labour Day activities focussed on getting entire communities to take responsibility for children. The day’s activities began early and members of community-based groups including the Parents Teachers Association, the Citizen’s Association, the Balaclava Sports Club and the Police were present. They were joined by parish councillors including Mayor of Black River Jeremy Palmer and staff of the parish council, Social Development Commission staff. According to a pleased Waysome “even the festival queen with a group of volunteers” were involved.

Inspector Louis Brown joined the Balaclava Police Station this year and is especially encouraged by the fencing of the school. He described it is an essential form of security. Brown said the police presence at the Labour Day project formed part of the drive to strengthen its relationship with members of the community.

“The commissioner has been championing community policing…we target schools and speak to the children… various police districts have School Resource Officers. We park the vehicles and walk the street to have one on one contact… we have community meetings and discuss various issues and the Police Youth Club has domino tournaments and debating competitions,” Brown said.

The citizen-police partnership is such that the residents are vigilant in alerting them to strangers who come into the area especially on weekends. Though Balaclava — a farming community — has its share of unemployment challenges particularly among the young, Brown noted that “there are eleven stations in St Elizabeth, and Balaclava has one of the lowest crime rates”.

And as he reflected on his years at Balaclava Primary, Waysome described it as his “second home” and a “wonderful experience”. He expressed satisfaction that under his leadership the school has been able to maintain academic performance levels; gain access to a Digicel Learning Centre equipped with specialised gadgets and facilitators to aid in literacy and numeracy skills; and acquire a container through the Environmental Foundation, which will be used as the school’s computer lab.

Even after retirement, Waysome says he intends to use his influence to assist with the fund-raising efforts of the school and as “other needs arise”.