BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Black River High School Principal Christopher Romans says face-to-face classes are expected to fully begin next Monday as the school in this coastal town reintegrates its 1,500 students with a week of orientation. The phased resumption will give construction crews more time to finish repairing damage inflicted by last year’s Hurricane Melissa.

On Monday, the start of the academic year, only eighth graders were facilitated at the school. The plan was to welcome students in ninth grade on Tuesday, followed by those from grades 10 and 11.

“From grade eight to grade 12 will be here on Friday. The reason we are doing this is to accommodate the contractors so that they can complete the work as promised. We are of the view that we should be able to accommodate all our students by the 14th. It may not be perfect in terms of all the accommodations, but we intend to do our best to accommodate all the students,” Romans told the Jamaica Observer Monday, adding that his young charges were excited to be back.

The phased approach will also give the school time to remind students what is acceptable behaviour when they return to a space for learning.

Black River High School in St Elizabeth (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

“We believe it is important that when the students return to school we spend some time to re-orientate them to the expectations, because a lot of the attitudes and procedures they may have lost over the summer,” the principal explained.

He is also worried there may be a low turnout of upper school students heading into the new academic year.

“I am concerned about attendance rate; it may be an issue and it is a matter that we have to track to see how best we can support students — especially those in the grade 10 and 11 year group,” Romans said.

“Despite the challenges last year, the [Caribbean Examination Council exam] results are commendable, because teachers, students, and parents all pulled together. We are going to be building on that [momentum] of success as we understand that there are going to be challenges,” he added.

With the school plant still undergoing construction, Romans commended contractors and workmen tasked with the responsibility of repairing the institution.

“We are quite appreciative of the work that was done over the weekend by the contractor to kind of fast-track work. I am seeing where the roof of the principal’s quarters was covered today [Monday] and several rooms that were previously not at a stage of accommodation are now ready, and for that we are extremely grateful,” he said.

The educator added that the school’s auditorium is expected to be ready within another two weeks.

“We currently don’t have power in that area, but provisions have been made by the Ministry of Education to redo the electrical work. We are looking forward to that project coming to fruition so that power can be restored to the practical areas,” said the school principal.

Black River, St Elizabeth, was among the areas hardest hit by the Category 5 storm on October 28, 2025. Black River High School is one of more than 688 schools that were damaged, 313 of them severely. Almost $26 billion is being spent on repairs and reconstruction, but in many locations the pace of work has been slow.