MALDON, St James — Over the past week Maldon High has moved from “about 65 per cent” ready for September morning to “90 per cent” but school administrators have one last decision to make: What time school will begin each day.

Last year, after Hurricane Melissa took a huge chunk out of the road travelled by students and teachers, the start time was pushed back from 8:00 am.

“For the rest of that school year we had to do 9:00 am to 3:00 pm,” Principal Janet Manning told the Jamaica Observer during a recent visit to the school.

A section of the pothole-riddled road on the alternate route through Hampton..

The extra hour gave everyone breathing room to make up time lost using the longer, alternate routes. Students who live at John’s Hall, for example, who used to take 30 minutes to get to school, now have to travel into Montego Bay then take the rural school bus to take them to school.

But that route through Mafoota is badly in need of repair.

“Transportation is our biggest problem. I am still to have another discussion with my team on the ground because the route determines the time that school will begin,” Manning told the Observer.

Maldon High School in south St James.

“We are to see if we can have a happy median — probably not [push the start time] as far [back] as 9:00 am, but it can’t be 8:00 am, so probably 8:30 am. But I am to have that full-time discussion with my team on the ground,” she explained.

She said the issue had been discussed before the summer break but those conversations had taken place within the context of expectations that progress would have been made in repairing the road.

“We realise that there is nothing of any major consequence, the roads are not fixed so we might have to come up with plan B or plan C,” Manning said, adding that her focus is now on ensuring that everyone is able to get to and from school as safely as possible.

“Getting staff up, getting children up, getting everybody who needs to move, that is my greatest concern — the road surface and how the children are going to get up,” she said.

Maldon High School in south St James which, school officials say, is ready for September 7..

Maldon High welcomes hundreds of new and returning students each year, not only from south St James but from across the parish. They now have to choose between speed or safety as they make their way to school.

The Kempshot to Charlie Mount road provides an alternative route that takes less time but parts of the road are treacherous. The pothole-riddled Mafoota route is considerably longer, even when the roads are fit for travel.

Manning said she is among those who now get to school by the longer route.

“It is a very stressful situation, especially for the children who travel and the teachers who drive this long route to come round the place,” she said.

This has also impacted repairs to the hurricane-battered school.

“To get people to come up from Montego Bay to work, to get material up, everything is going to take twice what it would normally take because of road surface,” Manning lamented last week.

The entrance to Maldon High School in St James.

Howeve, they have made significant progress since then and she is confident they will be ready by September 7.

“We have covered the classrooms that were impacted and the tuck shop, which was without a roof, but the bursar area is still facing some difficulties,” Manning told the Observer on Tuesday.

“We are at 90 per cent now; we are ready for teaching and learning. [There are] just some miscellaneous things that we need to sort out now but I can say we are ready for teaching and learning,” the principal added.