HECTOR’S RIVER, Portland — Halfway through the school term, students of Happy Grove High in Portland remain on rotation, unable to study full-time as work to repair damage done by Hurricane Beryl drags on.

Clinging to Education Minister Fayval Williams’ assurance that the matter was being treated with urgency, a frustrated principal Monique Grant-Facey had been hoping classes would be back to normal by the end of September. But work on the roof of the auditorium, which hosts the laboratories and the vice-principal’s office, is still incomplete.

Adverse weather since that July event has added to the challenges.

“Heavy wind [Tuesday] night removed some of the zinc,” Grant-Facey told the
Jamaica Observer.

She declined comment on reports that no work has been done for the last three weeks and that the welder left more than a week ago because he was unable able to effectively communicate with the contractor.

However, she painted a bleak picture of the impact the delay in repairs is having on her pupils’ education. Grades eight and nine are still on rotation while grades seven, 10 and 11 have full days.

“We have tried our best but our students are at a disadvantage. We have two year groups (grades eight and nine) on rotation; so for two weeks they only come to school for five days. Every time they miss a week and [they are] out of school they miss 50 sessions… This is not good enough!” Grant-Facey bemoaned.

“Senior management met and have decided to pull our students back. We are going to try and use every bit of available space and every inch of the ground that we can find, because they have to be in school,” the school administrator added.

Even though the grade 10 block is in operation; it will be a challenge having all the students on the compound at the same time.

“The auditorium houses the entire science department, the IT lab, tuck shop, library, and vice-principal’s office and we hope to get it back up to a state where we can use it when necessary. It is a hazard. When you look at it we have loose sheeting up there. We have students at school, workers are here, a sheeting can come off and a student can be injured, or a worker; so it is not safe,” said the principal, who has fresh memories of zinc flying away Tuesday night.

For now, she takes comfort in the little wins.

“The membrane went on [the grade 10 block] and that’s probably the best part of the work; we haven’t had any flooding since,” Grant-Facey told the Observer.

— Everard Owen