FROM infrastructural rejuvenation to the installation of a new wheelchair ramp, 30 members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) carried out repairs at Merl Grove High School on Monday, helping to spruce up the campus ahead of the new academic year next month.

According to Principal Dr Marjorie Fullerton, the JDF was brought in after a needs assessment revealed significant infrastructural degradation of the school, ranging from leaky roofs to mouldy walls, and substandard plumbing.

The school head, who was reinstated in March after a Supreme Court ruling overturned her dismissal by the school board, told the Jamaica Observer that Merl Grove was in desperate need of renovation and maintenance.

“In the five years I was out, I came back and saw that the infrastructure of the school had deteriorated over time. I don’t see signs of maintenance or repairs done on a yearly basis because I believe that if that was done every year, then it would not be that bad.

“Students are required to be provided for, and to have a safe and secure learning environment is important for them in order to learn, and some of them are getting wet in the classroom,” said the principal.

Merl Grove High School Principal Dr Marjorie Fullerton observes members of the Jamaica Defence force installing fences around outdoor classrooms at the school on Monday.

Pointing to the roof which bore the tell-tale signs of water settlement and moulding, Fullerton shared that the education ministry was handling that repair. But the educator said that she was not convinced that work was occurring at a pace that would facilitate the seamless reopening of school.

“The Ministry of Education’s work… on the roof has stalled for whatever reason. They began working at some point, probably in early July and I believe that we should be finished by now. I realised they were kind of dragging, and then they stopped altogether more than a week and a half ago. So that is one of the reasons why I invited the army corps to come in and see how best they could help us, because they have helped us before,” Fullerton told the
Observer.

She further noted the construction of an additional ramp at the school, which had previously benefited from a 2023 Government-led initiative to install ramps and railings for a student who uses a wheelchair.

Fullerton explained that the new ramp was necessary to improve accessibility for the student — now entering the 10th grade — as this specific area of the campus had not yet been retrofitted.

“I called on my major stakeholder group who supports the school as my past students; specifically, the JDF is always in partnership based on my past student who is now Lieutenant Colonel Henry. So today, we’re repainting because there’s a roof leak, and because of that, a lot of the wall spaces are in bad shape.

“The other areas are mostly the maintenance of buildings and fixing up of fencing. We have plumbers here looking at bathrooms for the girls. So every area is represented, basically, and I am very, very happy about that because the support from other stakeholder groups, other than the school board, becomes very important, because, if one area is down, then building up other areas comes from other stakeholder groups. I highly appreciate it,” she said.

Fullerton added that work would continue into the first week of September to ensure the students’ comfort once orientation begins on September 7.

“I want to make sure that we create a great impression for the students. I love to see their faces when they come in and they see the new things that we have done in order to accommodate them and their learning.

“I’m feeling confident that we’ll be finished, because the army comes in, in numbers. Basically what they were doing today is just starting from the assessment, and we wanted to provide all of the material needed. So, starting tomorrow [Tuesday], I’m sure they’ll be going full-fledged, and if they need more men in, they will carry in more,” she said.