WESTGATE HILLS, St James – DMP Academy in Westgate Hills, Montego Bay, has dismissed suggestions that the school, known for its eye-catching, drive-through graduations and celebratory street marches, caters only to the elite or those with questionable sources of wealth.

A video from the most recent graduation, held on June 28, raised a few eyebrows online. It showed a parade of gaily decorated high-end cars and a band of smartly clad youngsters, led by a police outrider as it made its way along a section of well-paved road. Slapped across the video, a written message that questioned the source of wealth of parents who can afford to send their children to what appears to be a fancy school.

But the academy’s principal, Georgette Powell, is unfazed by the talk.

“I look at these comments and I laugh. People are going to talk… We have lawyers, doctors, we have everybody here, and we don’t know what people doing with their lives, it’s not our business. These kids need a school to go to and we provide that experience,” she told the Jamaica Observer when contacted for a reaction.

She also maintained that DMP Academy’s fees are competitive.

“People just look at parade and assume; but it’s not a school for elitists. Our school fees are some of the lowest. We just increased our fees from $61,000 per term, and I would have done my research and we are still at the bottom of the ladder. We are just moving on to $70,000 now,” Powell said. “I would like to say it’s a ‘regular people’ school. As you can see, it’s regular kids we are working with here.”

Last week’s graduation was for students who had completed kindergarten or sixth-graders now moving on to secondary school.

Powell explained that the drive-through graduation had emerged as a way to allow students to celebrate despite the COVID-19 pandemic and it was actually cheaper to stage than a traditional prize-giving ceremony held a few days earlier. She opted not to disclose how much money was spent to stage either event. The drive-through approach became popular and the school stuck with it after the height of the pandemic, Powell said.

“Children get restless, they get bored easily, and so to sit in a room with persons speaking, it is boring to the kids. I don’t think they will remember half of the things that was said in a traditional graduation, so we decided to continue with our drive-through graduation,” she told Observer West.

There was a trophy for the best decorated car, students enjoyed a block party after collecting their diplomas, and there is also a separate prom.

“That’s what we do here, we create an experience,” Powell explained.

It’s an approach that has paid off, she said.

“I am getting ready now to do an alumni association. My past students, they won’t leave us alone. People will always remember how you made them feel and they had a great experience,” she remarked.

According to the private school’s website, the Discovering My Potential (DMP) Academy caters to students from kindergarten to age 12. It began as the On Your Mark, Get SET, Read project designed by the academy’s executive director Christine Medley.

“The project combined assistive technology reading programmes, along with training from classroom teachers and volunteers to give students the individualised attention and extra practice they needed to advance their reading skills. The results were dramatic. Over the course of that first summer, students participating in the pilot increased their reading ability by one to two grade levels,” it said.

“After this success, we expanded the programme to serve more students, and over the past two summers (2018 and 2019) DMP Academy has served an average of 60 students per summer with results in line with our initial pilot project,” it continued.

In speaking with Observer West, Principal Powell also boasted of students’ academic performance.

“For the most part, about 85 per cent of the students were placed in traditional high schools. They did well; I am pleased and the parents are pleased,” she said of this year’s participation in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

“We’re in the business of moulding good citizens of tomorrow,” Powell insisted.