Principal of the Castleton Primary and Junior High school, Patricia White, wants a perimeter fence for the south-east St Mary institution.

“Persons will just come onto the compound, from one end to the other, persons do that. We have persons who live behind, so they will use it as a thoroughfare to get to the other side,” she told the Jamaica Observer in an interview last Thursday.

A concerned resident underscored the importance of a perimeter fence.

“It is just open. you find good and bad come in there, you find somebody who mad come in with cutlass, and what you have is anybody can walk in and do anything and come out, anybody can come in from even the river side way and attack any teacher, anyone,” Ashmin Buchanan said, pointing out a need for development of the school.

The principal also highlighted the need for computers to outfit the school’s computer laboratory. She said that currently only two of the numerous computers in the lab are functional.

She estimated that the lab could accommodate up to 40 units.

Among White’s wish-list is the footbridge that leads to the school, which she reckons could be replaced to facilitate driving.

At present the staff members who drive have to park their vehicles in a makeshift lot by the Junction road and trek to work across the narrow bridge and road to get to school.

“As far as the bridge is concerned, it will probably have to be a new bridge, but I’m not sure the Government can afford it right now,” she said. “But if the Government wants to, that would be good for the teachers because some of us drive to work and we have to park out there,” she said.

She said that some teachers defer driving to work and instead are dropped off by the bridge daily. On some occasions also, White noted that there were not enough parking spaces and staff members have to wait for slots to become vacant before parking.

Her sentiments were echoed by residents who operated makeshift shops by the school’s entrance.

Miss Una told the Sunday Observer that attention needs to be paid to the bridge that connects the community to the main road.

“The bridge over there is very dangerous for the kids. There is a next, one, I would call it gully, around the other side. even when they are going sometimes we have to ask them to hold hands and make chain, don’t let go one another because if it come down, they are in danger,” she said.

“We expect to have a better bridge to come over, like a driving bridge to come across. The school is just right around there and the children them have to go to school,” Violet Nichols stated.

The school, which no longer operates as a junior high, has a compliment of 140 registered pupils between grades one and six.

During the recent by-election campaign, prime minister and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party Andrew Holness promised citizens of nearby Broadgate a bridge in their community, following his barefooted walk across the Wag Water River in search of votes for eventual winner Dr Norman Dunn.