NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Quick action by the Rotary Club of Negril and a coalition of partners has put Mount Airy Primary and Infant School back on track for this academic term.

President of the Rotary Club of Negril and a member of the school’s staff Cleopatra Jones-Kentish, was among the first to extend a hand of help. She approached Principal Nichol Jackson, offering support and initiating discussions on a comprehensive resilience plan that addressed immediate, short-term, medium-term, and long-term needs. The Rotary Club quickly became a central hub for coordinating assistance.

It was just what the school needed.

“When Hurricane Melissa hit and I came onto the compound and saw the magnitude of the damage, it would have been easy to become hopeless and depressed. I sat and saw what was here and wondered what the next step was because the damage was massive,” the school’s principal reflected in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Zinc sheets from school buildings were wrapped around communication towers, classrooms were left roofless, and the entire library was soaked.

Recognising the massive scale of the damage — which affected 18 of the school’s 24 classrooms —Jackson and the Rotary Club developed a multi-phased resilience plan.

The repairs, which began in earnest on November 25, were prioritised by necessity. Phase one of the project focused on the bathrooms, which were left completely roofless. Phase two addressed a board building along with classrooms for grades four and five, while phase three focused on the main school building.

Significant progress was made during the Christmas holidays when students were not present. By January all classrooms were covered, allowing students to return to a comfortable learning environment. This timely intervention also enabled the school to extend its operating hours to 2:30 pm, a significant improvement from the previous limitation of 1:00 pm due to the unreliability of tarpaulins during heavy rains.

The project, valued at US$80,000, was funded largely through the efforts of Gary Robinson, formerly of Cornerstone Jamaica and founder of the See Better Learn Better Foundation, who tapped into a network of donors in the United States.

Under the guidance of contractor Ian Hewin, the school has not just been repaired, but reinforced to withstand future storms. In a move to correct past structural flaws, the team installed custom-made hurricane straps and replaced traditional nails with screws to secure the roofs.

Additionally, ceilings were upgraded from Formica to durable cement board for added reinforcement.

“The school has been repaired to a standard that was at least as good and probably better than it was before,” noted Rotary Club of Negril’s Kenneth Cooney.

The Rotary Club’s support extended far beyond structural repairs. Through their network, the school received Starlink Internet and a back-up generator, school supplies and care packages for teachers and staff. Relief was also provided in the form of tarpaulins to allow for early reopening in November.

The intervention was critical, as the school community realised that waiting solely for government funding — given the widespread damage across Jamaica — would have left students in limbo for some time.

“I am feeling elated. I am feeling good. I don’t have an ounce of depression in me. I am being honest with you, I don’t feel depressed because our [attendance] numbers for December were lower than they are for January. The students are coming out,” relayed an elated Jackson.

The school has 550 students on roll and 18 out of an ideal 21 teachers. As it moves forward, the Rotary Club has expressed continued interest in ensuring its long-term resilience.

In addition the club is actively trying to obtain funding to undertake similar projects at other schools across the parish. These include Broughton Primary School as well as Kew Park Primary and Infant School.

They have already identified their source of funding. Following Hurricane Melissa the Rotary Club put aside $1 million, which was matched by the Catholic Church’s Franciscan Friars and the Mary Gate of Heaven Catholic Church in Negril, to assist those in need.

“They put the million [dollars] with Rotary and from that two million, mostly from Samuel’s Hardware, we actually had 51 persons with damaged roofing helped. We called it ‘Keep People Dry’,” stated the club’s director of community service, Joan Taylor-Cooney.

According to club president Jones-Kentish, Rotary Negril will be continuing this initiative with assistance received from Travellers Beach Resort.

“We got some funding and we’re going to continue with the project. We’re looking into seeing how we can help at least three families with more than just giving the roofing help. So we have that, that we’re doing now. We’re still looking out and we’re still trying to assist people in the community and in the outer part of Westmoreland,” stated Jones-Kentish.

A repaired classroom at Mount Airy Primary & Infant School (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Director of Community service Joan Taylor-Cooney (left) and president of the Rotary Club of Negril and member of Mount Airy Primary staff Cleopatra Jones-Kentish, look through documents in front of the remains of a classroom at the school. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)