HOPEWELL, Hanover — Nestled in the hills of Hopewell overlooking the scenic, seaside community, Hopewell High School, which has been dogged by turbulence since its establishment in 2006, has been steadily overcoming the odds, the school’s principal has said.

In the past, the reputation of the institution, which boasts a student population of nearly 1200, has been tarnished by a high level of indiscipline perpetuated by some students.

However, according to Joyce Irving, the institution’s principal, since the founding of the school’s turnaround movement, a year ago, there has been an improvement in the students’ behaviour.

“We had a lot of turbulence, but this year for instance we have had no stabbings, nothing. We had problems, but nothing compared to then,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Irving, revealed that the school invested in radios and set up a group of male teachers called the ‘Renegades’ who conduct regular “spot checks” at black spots identified at the school. Then too, Irving said that she removed the upper school classes from the rear of the premises, to the front of the school, “right under my nose”.

“The most effective change comes through chaos, because it is in the chaos that the creative juices flow to bring about the change,” Irving said.

But the standings of the seven-year-old school was not only tarnished by the indisciplined behaviour of its students, as three years ago, a prospective male teacher was killed on the compound by a gunman who went there reportedly to assassinate the principal, who has been at the institution since its inception.

On July 26, 2010, about 10:15 am, with the assistance of two staff members, Irving had to lock herself inside her office, where furniture was used to reinforce the door to keep out the gunman who tried to barge in after he managed to get on to the school premises.

The potential teacher, who was at the front office, got wind of the situation and was allegedly attempting to make a telephone call for help when he was killed, throwing the entire school population and the community into mourning.

“A young prospective male teacher who had done his internship here — Pastor Dixon — I know he would have impacted the youths because I heard he had a way with young people. He ran out when I started yelling. The pastor who was waiting to pick up his package to start working in September, ran off to get help for me and was murdered,” Irving recounted the grim incident.

In the meantime, she noted that apart from the indiscipline, the school has been saddled with acute financial challenges. This has resulted in the school withdrawing from participatiion in the daCosta Cup football competition this year.

“As a new school we are financially strapped. And this year especially, I told my team that unless I see a million Jamaican dollars on the table, I am not going to engage to have stroke and pressure overnight to pay bills,” Irving stated, adding that since its establishment, the school has been without a playing field.

“We don’t have a playing field. It is the only new school of this kind without a playing field.”

The school’s financial woes have also handicapped its ability to outfit the Information Technology laboratory with any of the 60 computers that are needed.

Meanwhile, Hopewell High, which, according to Irving, is populated with GSAT students “who fall below the cut off score of 30 per cent” performed admirably during the most recent CSEC examinations.

“This year we have done wonderfully with CSEC — the highest we have got so far. For instance we have a young lady coming out of Montpelier Sandy Bay, who got 11 subjects and our headboy got nine. We have been having success stories all along and it is because we have been able to move the child from zero to hero,” Irving bragged.

Meanwhile, head of the CXC department, Leroy Gordon said that the enhanced performance served to meet the objective which was set for the last school year.

“We decided to improve in all the areas. The students improved all across the subject areas which was our objectives this year,” Gordon told the Observer, adding that for this school year the objective is to ensure that every student in the department sits an exit level exam.

He, however, bemoaned the difficulty posed to prepare some of the students for CXC who are unable to read.

“It’s difficult when you have some of the students being able to read and some who can’t and they are in the same class. The main challenge is to prepare the students for CXC so it’s a challenge when you are trying to meet that objective and have them at that stage (unable to read).”

In the meantime, despite being in existence for seven years, the school is yet to be officially opened by the ministry of education, but Irving is not disturbed by this.

“For me I don’t really major in the minor. What I major in is to help my students to succeed so it is nothing. I don’t feel anything about it. It can happen anytime,” said Irving, a veteran educator of 35 years.