MAGGOTTY, St Elizabeth — As Maggotty High School leaders weigh extending rotation for its 1,400 students when school reopens in September, a proposal is being made to abandon a waterlogged site earmarked for four classrooms.

Principal Sean Graham and building technology and construction teacher Delgado Kelly said they had proposed to a contractor to do a two-floor building with 12 classrooms at another section of the school, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Melissa last October.

According to Graham, agriculture science students are without four classrooms following damage to a building and poultry area from which 300 chicks were lost.

Buildings at Maggotty High School in northern St Elizabeth left partially roofless by Hurricane Melissa last October.

“As a result of Hurricane [Melissa], we lost the roof and the entire structure, so…the National Education Trust (NET) demolished the classrooms there with the view to reconstruct some other classrooms from scratch, but we have a challenge due to rain every day,” Graham told the Jamaica Observer during a visit to the school on Wednesday.

“The [contractor] is not able to lay the foundation properly, so the work has not started; it was to start four weeks ago,” he added.

He said the construction of the new classroom block is now in a wait-and-see phase.

“Outside of the weather, the [contractor] has an equipment problem with a tractor. He has shifted the timeline to the end of September, but the fact that nothing has started as yet we still have some concerns,” said Graham.

A waterlogged area slated for the building of four classrooms at Maggotty High.

His colleague, Kelly, said the construction is hampered almost daily by rain and suggested two additional classrooms be built along with the four already slated for agriculture science students.

“The trenches are already filled with water to capacity, so my suggestion is to cancel here and do a two-storey building [at another section of the school],” he said. The trenches are the foundation of the building.

“We are doing six classrooms on [the other side of the compound], so we could add another six on the top and that would actually speed up the work for the school year,” Kelly added.

Maggotty High Principal Sean Graham is amused while interacting with a student painting under a staircase at the school on Wednesday.

Graham said the proposal is to be made to NET.

“We are in the process of doing it, because of the challenge we are seeing here, and Mr Kelly’s idea is something that we want to propose, it is a brilliant suggestion,” the principal said while explaining that the waterlogged space would be devoted to more outdoor agriculture science activities.

Even as Graham pointed to several buildings awaiting renovation, he lauded NET for the re-roofing and repairs to the school’s auto mechanics building.

“We lost all of the roof. We have a classroom, demonstration rooms, a garage section, and a building construction work area. NET completed here,” he pointed out.

Kelly said students are being integrated into the reconstruction projects at the school.

“We have steel fixing, block work, and drywall partitions in the auto mechanics building. Some students are here painting from the building construction class. We have others doing a big gate for the garbage house,” he said.

Principal Graham is optimistic that the number of students involved in the reconstruction can increase and allow them to have experience in construction.

Maggotty High School Principal Sean Graham (right) and building technology and construction teacher Delgado Kelly standing next to the foundation for a six-classroom block.Photos: Garfield Robinson

“I am hoping to have at least 25, because we are going to have electrical work, construction work, and welding. I am big on students being a part of rebuilding this school for their own attachment to the school now, but in years to come they can come back and say this did happen and I played a part, and then it can also help them with the remuneration of money,” he said.

He pointed out that amid the challenges the school will have to determine the way forward to accommodate its students.

“We lost some students due to the hurricane at the higher grade level, but in terms of grades seven to 10, which would translate into the regular school population, we didn’t lose much there…The rotational model is under consideration along with the shift [system]. My own idea is to continue on the rotational model, and then by the midterm we would just be back to regular school, because the classrooms, by then, would be up and running,” he said.