SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Even as school leaders here are eagerly awaiting the resumption of face-to-face classes next Monday, one principal believes the Government should wait until mid-January to resume physical learning.

Chris Dubidad, principal of St Alban’s Primary and Infant School located close to Malvern in the Santa Cruz Mountains, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that it would have been better to wait until two weeks after the festive season to return to the classroom due to the threat of a fourth COVID-19 wave combined with the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

“My advice would be that we would not have started January 3. We would give it two weeks to settle down because you know Christmas is where everybody is together, so I am assuming [Omicron] is all around now. My advice would be to lay low – just do online for two weeks until it settles down,” he said.

“Ask everybody to be super careful and then we go after the two weeks by January 17,” he added.

The education ministry said all public primary and secondary schools are to officially reopen for face-to-face learning on January 3.

Dubidad pointed to previous times when face-to-face classes were halted due to spikes in COVID-19 cases.

“My concern is based on what happened, when we started and then we had to stop. I am praying that doesn’t happen again,” he said.

“What I don’t want is for us to start and then it keeps spiking and we have to stop,” he added.

His caution aside, Dubidad said the challenges he faces regarding the reopening of school are mainly to do with funding for the canteen and transportation cost for the school bus, which caters to children from remote districts.

He said last year most of parents had a challenge providing lunch for the students, especially on Thursdays and Fridays. As such, on those days the affected students didn’t attend school.

He pointed to the Government’s decision to directly send more funds through the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) to parents, which was previously sent to the school for providing lunch to the students.

“The PATH money to the parents was increased, but it affected our school negatively,” he said.

He is also appealing for help with transportation costs to benefit 82 students.

“The ministry does provide us with a little transportation stipend, but it is not enough because of the cost of gas and parts. We basically don’t charge the students because they can’t afford it,” he said.

“If we could get some assistance from the private sector in helping to maintain the bus, pay the driver, and buy gas, that would be fantastic,” he added.

Dubidad also said that three staff members have not yet been vaccinated due to medical issues.

Meanwhile, Carlene Williams-Heath, principal of Park Mountain Primary, said her school will be using the blended approach to learning.

“We have put the students into two sets — set one will come in on Mondays and Wednesdays, while set two will come on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we will alternate the Fridays. Students will have a maximum of three days per week,” she said.

Additionally, plans are being put in place to improve literacy and numeracy.

“We are working with the modified curriculum. We are really looking at how we can [be on] the road to recovering because learning loss has been great,” Williams-Heath said.

She added that all of her 24 staff members are being encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Fifty per cent of the staff is vaccinated, and the others… we continue to encourage them to get vaccinated. Some have their own medical reasons why they wouldn’t get vaccinated. It’s not that they don’t believe [in vaccines], but a few are thinking about it,” she said.

Meantime, Principal Okeshue Bigby is reporting that Schoolfield Primary and Infant School is in a high state of readiness to resume face-to-face classes on a rotational basis.

He said the school’s population of 100 students and 15 staff members are looking forward to next Monday.

At the same time, he said he is not worried about the threat of a fourth COVID-19 wave and the Omicron variant as all staff members are vaccinated.

Christopher Romans, principal of Black River High, said his school is ready, and has sent out a schedule for classes for approximately 1,600 students and 98 teachers.

“I think the only challenge is because up to Wednesday the message amongst parents was that vaccinated kids alone would be accommodated face-to-face, so the fact that the information has changed some parents might find themselves a little bit unprepared,” he said.

He added that the vaccination level among staff is 91 per cent.

Duken Williams, principal of Lewisville High School, said he is expecting about 500 students to return to the classroom, along with 52 teachers.

He said an analysis was being done to determine the level of vaccination among staff and students.