BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Students at Black River High are set to resume classes today after the long break following Hurricane Melissa, with some of their peers being facilitated on a rotational basis.

Principal Christopher Romans said the delay in commencing the new term was due to the need to properly plan for the accommodation of students following the battering of classrooms last October during the passage of category five Hurricane Melissa.

“We [had] meetings on Monday and Tuesday, because we were trying to [work out] our schedule. The plan is to have grades nine to 13 here full-time, and to do a rotation between grades seven and eight until we get some resources or until the classrooms are fixed,” Romans said on Monday.

In December, when the Jamaica Observer visited the school in hurricane-ravaged Black River, Romans said the school’s auditorium was significantly damaged, with “three-quarters” of the roof being ripped off.

He explained that the auditorium was a very essential part of the school operation, housing three classrooms, and was the school’s major exam centre.

“On a day when we have large exams we could host at least 400 or more students, so it is an essential part of our school administration,” Romans said then.

He said all the areas on the compound that had metal sheeting covering were damaged, and the roof at the teachers’ cottage was wrecked. The security post, the bus shed, and 90 per cent of the perimeter fence around the campus were also down.

“Two classrooms are not operable now, plus some offices which are adjacent to those classrooms,” he said, while adding that the roof of the school’s dorm was also damaged, impacting the sports programme there.

On Monday Romans said progress had been made with the restoration of electricity to the property, but the challenge the school now faces is to individually power buildings.

“The main lines have been fixed, but there are some power supply areas that are down with potheads on them, so we have identified a contractor to fix that problem. As soon as that is in place we should have power in the buildings,” he said.

In Elim, north east of Santa Cruz, Principal at Sydney Pagon STEM Academy Milbert Miller is optimistic that the turn-out of students to classes will increase gradually following the resumption of classes on Monday.

“The turn-out could be better, it was not as we expected considering that we had early rains and some people are still without electricity, so we are monitoring that. [But we had] close to 50 per cent turnout,” he said. “Everything was smooth, because we are testing out the shift system, a kind of staggered system for the first time, so [Monday was] our first try at it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Principal at Newell High Audrey Ellington is also optimistic that the turn-out of students for classes will increase despite the challenges still being faced by students and their parents.

“For our morning registration we had 204 students turning up. Usually Mondays are not our best day for attendance although I was expecting higher numbers. We are trying to figure out why Tuesdays are better days for us in terms of attendance, but this is something that we have seen for a while… I think some of our students go out to other family members and they travel on Monday [back home], so on Tuesday is when they turn up for school,” she said.

“The students are in high spirits, those who are here, and we sent out a notification just before the weekend to tell parents,” she added.

She said the school has continued to support students beyond just teaching and learning.

“The students are more focused now than in December, but we still do psychosocial sessions with them, and engage them to find out how they are feeling and how their holiday was. Based on observation they are in high spirits and want to be at school,” she said.

Outside Black River High’s auditorium, seen in December, which housed three classrooms, and was the school’s major exam centre. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Newell High Principal Audrey Ellington said her students are in high spirits. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

Principal at Sydney Pagon STEM Academy Milbert Miller is optimistic that the turn-out of students to classes will increase gradually.