MONTEGO BAY, St James — Often making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, St James High School happily celebrated good news last Wednesday. Within the Ministry of Education’s Region Four, it is the fourth best-performing school in this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams.

The schools that have been placed first, second and third, respectively, are Montego Bay High, Mount Alvernia High, and Herbert Morrison Technical High Schools, all in St James. St James High bested the likes of Manning’s School (fifth), Cornwall College (sixth), and Belmont Academy (seventh).

According to the moderator for a celebratory luncheon held at the school, Eva Gayle, several schools in the region are finding it hard to come to grips with St James High’s unusual achievement. She recounted a conversation she had over the phone with someone who suggested the results could not be genuine.

“There are some persons out there who don’t want to believe where we are and they’re taking it very hard. They’re taking it even harder than the election,” quipped Gayle, referencing the September 3 General Election.

Last year St James High was rocked by protests and padlocked gates, frequent public spats between the board chairman and principal, with some teachers and parents choosing sides.

On Wednesday the embattled principal of the 64-year-old institution, Joseph Williams, told the Jamaica Observer that last year’s dust-ups were aimed at destabilising ongoing achievements at the institution. The CSEC results, he said, were vindication.

“We know what we are doing. The detractors, they wanted to upset the system but we were focused, that’s why the outcome is this,” he argued.

“I know I was doing the right thing and we know what we are doing. I have the team; the team comes out of the squad. You have some people in the squad that are not members of the team. They are employed here and they are put here as stakeholders but they are not part of the team. We are focused and I feel so overwhelmed to see the result. God is good all the time. And I expect better [in the future],” stated Williams.

Asked for the exact number of students that did the external examination, the administrator would only say it was more than 200 and it was similar to last year’s tally. He noted that it is school policy for each grade 11 student to take at least six subjects.

In addition to a spotty academic record in the past, the school was once plagued by indiscipline. Last week, Vice-Principal Joseph Haughton credited Principal Williams with the change, saying he deserves “a thunderous round of applause”.

“When I came here there was a lot of blood-letting taking place. I remember I was wearing a particular shirt. I wasn’t driving at the time, and I had to wash blood out of my clothes because of parting fights every single day. It was happening,” said the vice-principal.

He said the indiscipline thrived because some teachers would use working hours to do their personal business.

“Teachers used to leave the compound impetuously, so the students were unsupervised. There were a lot of social inadequacies around,” stated Haughton, who pointed to the importance of using a radical approach in turning things around.

He used last Wednesday’s celebration to congratulate Williams for what he sees as highly effective leadership. This is in stark contrast to the principal’s critics who have in the past blasted him for his leadership style. He has been harshly criticised, for example, for unilaterally making important decisions.

“If you study the tenets of a transformational leader, they do not follow the status quo. You have certain times where they have to take the bull by its horns and be courageous and believe in a vision. Now the vision is shared, it is expertly communicated, effectively communicated and we receive it well,” Haughton said of Williams.

“The Bible says, without vision the people perish. And so if you look at this banner here, several subjects that you are seeing here were not being offered. It was called Senior School, Catch Man College, Dirty Place. Nobody wanted to send their children here; no one wanted to work here. I experienced that. It is not a case where I am hearing, I experienced it,” he added.

He acknowledged that the job can be challenging at times, but said it was worth it.

“Some of the time the students give a lot of trouble but they are our most treasured children. The most exhilarating feeling is when students do well. It is a feeling that is exhilarating and invigorating. We feel good. Give yourselves a round of applause,” the vice-principal encouraged his colleagues during the ceremony.

In sharing his views on this year’s CSEC performance, he said making it to fourth place was not an easy task.

“Do you think it is easy? It is not by chance [that] we are fourth in the region. And I am not even celebrating the fourth alone. The average is 83 points and the numbers that are sent up are not mediocre numbers, they are high numbers,” stated Haughton.

He proudly rattled off stats on the passing grades.

“One hundred and seventy-six are information technology, 176 [students passed] out of 179. That is [impressive]. We have some schools sending up like 30, 20 students. We have 176 out of 179. We have close to 200 students for HSB [human and social biology], 90 per cent average. We have 19 subjects above 80 per cent and we have about 15 above 90. Only a few are below 80 per cent,” he revealed.

“We are going to lift the standard and continue to lift the standard. It takes visionary leadership. And our teachers are the most resourceful,” added Haughton.

He is convinced students could do even better if the school is taken off the shift system.

“Do you believe it is easy for teachers to come here at 7 o’clock and leave at 5:30? It is not by chance. Let me tell you something, and I am very passionate about this, high schools have at least five instructional hours daily. We have about three-and-a-half hours daily because it is an injustice to be asking students to come to school at 7 o’clock when the place is dark. And the teachers come to school at 7 o’clock when the place is dark,” argued Haughton.

“We need to take the school off the shift system. Anyhow we were not on the shift system we would be number one in the region. And I am speaking axiomatically, very certain about that,” stated Haughton.

According to Principal Williams, the infighting that has plagued St James High has prevented the institution from working in unity towards the construction of more buildings needed to tutor all its students simultaneously. As he spoke he pointed to a building the school constructed at a cost of more than $30 million, with $8 million in assistance provided by former Minister of Education Ruel Reid. That block currently houses science and computer labs, bathrooms and classrooms for grades 12 and 13.

St James High currently has 1,700 students on roll and an academic staff complement of more than 100. The school is currently short of three teachers.

During Wednesday’s ceremony Williams, Haughton, education officer Dr Patricia Mumby Lalor and second Vice-Principal Georgia Green were honoured. Each subject teacher was also recognised.

Principal of St James High School Joseph Williams receiving a plaque from head of the Humanities Department Judith Brown during a ceremony, last week, to mark the school’s impressive showing in CSEC.

Vice-principal of St James High School Joseph Haughton collecting a plaque from head of the Humanities Department Judith Brown.