HECTOR’S RIVER, Portland — Though it had not rained for three days, there was a steady drip of water coming from the roof of the principal’s office at Happy Grove High School on Tuesday.

Without a roof, the entire top floor of the main building at the school is unusable and administrators have had to cobble solutions to keep classes going. But none of this can be blamed on Hurricane Melissa.

“Melissa did not do any major damage to our institution, so the problems that we have in the main are a result of [Hurricane] Beryl. All the inconvenience that we are suffering now as a school is more from Beryl than Melissa,” Vice-Principal Devon Wilson, who is acting as principal, told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

When Hurricane Beryl struck in July 2024, the 127-year-old school lost a number of classrooms and the roof of Harvey Hall, its auditorium. The auditorium roof has since been replaced by the State, but the rest of the damage still hangs like a millstone around the school’s neck.

“We have been operating without a sixth classroom. As a result, our library is being used as a classroom, our TD [technical drawing] room, our science laboratory, our music room [is used] to facilitate our grade 10 class students because of the impact of Beryl,” said Wilson.

He reeled off the list of things in need of repair.

“We have six classrooms that are out of use. We have the administrative block that is leaking. Even though we have no rain for the past three days, I’m in my office now and water is dripping from the roof. [On] the administrative block, the staff room roof needs changing and we have broken windows, missing window panes,” said the man at the helm of the Portland school as he asked for help.

“Government has started, but there is still a lot to be done, and we are open to any form of contribution. We are in need of support both from Government and the private sector. It would be good if our past students would try and assist us by doing small projects to make our life a little better, a little easier, and to show the students that people really care about their environment from the outside and help them to achieve their fullest potential,” said Wilson.

While the school itself — which is located at Hector’s River on the border of Portland and St Thomas — was largely spared Melissa’s wrath, many of its students were not as lucky.

Lives already upended by Beryl, the students are now forced to adapt to the changes brought on by Melissa.

“A lot of them, their houses got damaged, some got water damage, and there was a lack of electricity, Internet, and water. As a result of that, when we started after Melissa, some students were unable to come to school,” said Wilson.

“There’s no electricity in their area, and to traverse those spaces after school would have been dangerous. Even in the early mornings to get out, to get to where we are, also poses some challenges. So the parents opted to keep them at home,” Wilson added.

With communication lines down, online classes were not an option.

“We were not in a position to reach them in terms of instruction or any other form because we have Internet challenges and phone connectivity issues…It’s just slowly coming back up at this moment. Students…were at home for the first few days when we started.

“Our students from Rolandsfield, Bath, and the Seaford area, those students suffered greatest because those areas had damage from the river. Even the roofs in those communities had a greater number of houses being affected by the storm. I think up to this point Rolandsfield is still without electricity,” said Wilson.

He told the Observer that the school has relaxed some rules as it welcomes students back and waits for others to return as their circumstances allow.

“We still have students wearing casual clothes who have turned up to school, and there are some who still haven’t yet turned up to school. Those communities in St Thomas that were impacted significantly, those students are still at home,” Wilson explained.

Students sitting external examinations are of concern, both in terms of their readiness and ability to pay the fees.

“Luckily, most of our students had already paid for their CSEC [Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate] exams before Melissa,” said the educator.

He said the extension of the deadline had given enough breathing room for most of those who had challenges to catch up.

“We are almost close to full registration of eligible candidates for CSEC,” said Wilson.

Registration for City and Guilds exams will be in January, and the school is expected to be close to normal operations at that time.

And even as Happy Grove grapples with its own challenges, Wilson is eager to help Melissa-battered schools in other sections of the island.

“We haven’t received any request at the moment, but we have sent out feelers. We have indicated to both teachers and students that if they have relatives from western Jamaica who are willing to send their kids over to the east to continue their schooling, we are willing to take those students,” Wilson told the Observer.

“We have space. Space wouldn’t be an issue. We offer over 28 subjects at the CSEC level; that is over 90 per cent of the offerings of CSEC. Students who are in grade 11, we will be able to help them continue their education during this crisis,” he added.

— Everard Owen

The Hurricane Beryl-damaged Harvey Hall at Happy Grove High in Portland (Photo: Everard Owen)

Damaged by Hurricane Beryl in 2024, the auditorium roof is the only major repair done at Happy Grove High in Hector’s River, Portland. (Photo: Everard Owen)

The entrance to Happy Grove High School in Portland.(Photos: Norman Thomas)