HECTOR’S RIVER, Portland— Happy Grove High School remains closed as school administrators struggle to get past damage left by heavy rains, the impact of Hurricane Beryl, and the slow pace of repairs.

During a visit to the 126-year-old school on Tuesday, school board chairman, Mary Carter Haynes, listed a litany of woes. These include much-needed repairs to the roof of the auditorium, which is being held up as they await the services of a welder.

“The sheeting from the roof has been removed and they intended to restore the metal. That is not completed so the sheeting is not yet installed. That entire area serves the science and computer labs and vice principal’s office. So that area is out of bounds as it is not usable,” Carter Haynes told the Jamaica Observer.

She anticipates that a new roof membrane for Block C will be installed “in another week or two” and they will be able to use the area for students’ orientation “on a phased basis”. However, she was unable to say when Harvey Hall, another vital section of the school, will be up and running. School officials said it is plagued by rat bats, the ceiling bed is destroyed, and the roof has been dislodged.

That entire section needs to be demolished and rebuilt.

“That area cannot be used; therefore, we cannot take back the students. We cannot take back students until the compound is in a state to accommodate them. The students and teachers must be in a safe environment for teaching and learning, so this week is a no-no,” Carter Haynes said.

She commended staff who have been doing their best to cope and pitching in with the repairs.

When the Observer visited the school, Principal Monique Grant-Facey, whose office has a leaking roof, was busy painting a classroom on Block C. Some of the paint had even made its way to her face.

Grant-Facey explained why she is frustrated.

“November 2023 we had some heavy rains and we lost a section of our ceiling bed from one of our main classroom blocks. This resulted in the leaking and loss of that classroom block, and for the majority of the school year we went without it. It was a task!” she said.

The principal said things got a little better when 11th graders began doing external exams and 10th graders were able to use the classrooms they vacated. Then there was another setback.

“With the passing of Hurricane Beryl things got worse for us, as our auditorium block was destroyed. That area hosts our Science Department, offices for the vice-principals, library, tuck shop, the printing room, a staff room as well as the reading room. When I looked it was an unbearable situation. We lost the membrane from the other classroom block, which started leaking when it rains,” she lamented.

“The problem is overwhelming, but I think I am looking at the light at the end of the tunnel now. Now that I’m seeing material being brought into the school I believe that some work is going to be done,” she added.

School administrators have dismissed the option of online classes. They said it was ineffective during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they have a plan to bring students back to the classroom.

“We have discussed utilising a space that can hold at least one year group if we split the students into smaller sections for accommodation,” said Grant-Facey.

She is optimistic that Block C’s roof membrane will be in place in time for the space to be used next Monday morning.

“We want our students back in school,” the principal said.

She told the Observer she would have liked to see more urgency from those doing repairs.

“I had anticipated that the work would have been near completion for September 2 if work had started as we were promised. If the workmen were working night and day for most part, we know that it could have been done. As you see, most of the work is still undone. Outside of the demolishing, nothing else has taken place,” said Grant-Facey.

She commended the effort made by education ministry officials on the ground and said she has taken comfort in the fact that Minister of Education Fayval Williams visited recently and took action to speed up the process.

Board Chairman Carter Haynes is also cautiously optimistic.

“We would have hoped that more care would have been taken about the needs and also schools on the eastern side of the island,” she said.

According to her, they will be keeping a watchful eye, hopeful that now Happy Grove will finally “be given the necessary attention”.