WATCH: Teachers at Little London Primary School undergo grief counselling following death of principal
WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – The staff at Little London Primary School in Westmoreland is currently undergoing an all-day grief counselling session as the school community mourns the passing of their principal of 10 years.
Shirlet Craig-Davis passed away on Saturday, two weeks after she met in a vehicle crash.
Craig-Davis had reportedly experienced a headache following the accident and sought medical attention at a hospital where she was prescribed medication and sent home. However, she later suffered two strokes and was rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) where she died.
Vice Principal of the institution, Nerissa Stephens said the school community is deeply saddened by the passing of Craig-Davis.
“The atmosphere at this time is very sad. It’s very mournful. However, as I said before, we are here for you. We are here for each other and we have the support of other stakeholders, the Ministry of Education, JTA (Jamaica Teachers’ Association), we have the support staff from the Guidance Counselling Department who is offering grief counselling even at this time and we have parents, [and] students. The community at large is here to support us today and we are forever grateful to them for this level of support that they are lending to us,” shared Stephens.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) also came out in their numbers to lend their support.
The passing of Shirlet Craig-Davis has resulted in the postponement of the start of classes by a day.
Stephens noted that a similar grief counselling session will be held for students on Tuesday.
“We had to make accommodations to assist our staff, my colleagues with grieving because we didn’t just want to engage the students while we were broken because we cannot pour from an empty vessel into our children because we know that they too are grieving,” stated the vice principal.
“Similar to today, we will have grief counselling for them. We will have our general devotion as usual and the parents will be here and then we will branch out into our grief counselling for the students,” explained Stephens.
The institution which started in 1976 currently has close to 700 students on roll and an academic staff of 24.
– Anthony Lewis
