The Ministry of Education is reporting that it has resolved operational issues at St James High School where students and staff arrived Monday morning to find the gates to the institution padlocked and a lack of water.
The security forces were called to the school after the padlocks were discovered.
It is not immediately clear if the issue with the padlocked gates is connected to an ongoing dispute between the school’s principal, Joseph Williams and board chairman, Christopher McCurdy.
The ministry has advised that a team from its Region 4 Office, including the education officer, safety and security coordinator, and the building officer, was dispatched immediately to the institution to assess and resolve the reported challenges.
“Upon arrival, it was found that access was provided to the staff and students and immediate steps were taken to normalise the operations as per the timetable,” the ministry said.
Permanent Secretary within the ministry, Dr Kasan Troupe, condemned what she said is the “attempts of trespassers, who through their cowardly and misguided act, denied the key stakeholders, our students, of their well-prepared learning space this morning”.
“It is for this reason that the assistance of the security force has been enlisted to investigate and prosecute accordingly,” she added.
Dr Troupe further reported that, “Coincidentally, during the attempts to normalise the operations, it was discovered, that the school experienced a disruption in its water supply which impacted the preparation of meals for students and compromised the sanitary conditions of the bathrooms”.
This reportedly stemmed from works done by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Sunday evening, which damaged water pipes leading to the reduced flow of water to the school. JPS has reportedly begun to address the matter forthwith.
In response to the developments, the ministry adjusted the school schedule, dismissing the morning shift at 10:00am and transitioned the afternoon shift to remote learning to ensure continued educational progress.
Dr Troupe emphasised that these decisions were made swiftly to prevent any learning loss and assured that face-to-face learning will resume today.
According to the statement, “The ministry, through the National Council on Education, and the Regional Office, will advance the work to address the governance issues at St James High School to restore stability and champion the excellence embedded in the staff and students”.
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