Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer
THE REOPENING of the new school year rekindled painful memories for the still-grieving students and staff of the Boscobel Primary School in St. Mary.
Already traumatised by last month's brutal slaying of Manning Marsh, who had been the principal for over 26 years, the staff, students and parents were placed under additional stress Monday when classes could not resume due to a critical shortage of furniture.
Of the 230 students who were expected to take up classes on Monday, there were benches for only about half that number, forcing an indefinite closure of the school. The situation has angered the executive of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) and outraged parents. Some of the parents openly accused the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture of negligence.
TEARS CONTINUE TO FLOW
Tears also continued to flow from students and teachers over the slaying of the late Mr. Marsh and one staff member broke down when she entered the principal's office. She found it difficult to come to grips with the reality that he would no longer be there.
While all the grieving was taking place, one workman was seen in a corner of the library, trying to remove spots of blood, which was believed to have come from Mr. Marsh's body when he was being attacked, from a wooden shelf.
An obviously distressed newly appointed acting principal, Deloris Johnson-Mighty, went ahead with morning devotion, and a 90-minute counselling session from a team from the guidance and counselling department of the Education Ministry. But when that was over, she had no option but to send the children home.
"At present, I do not know what is going to happen, but what I have asked the parents to do is to take home the children and we are going to ask them to return on Wednesday," Mrs. Johnson-Mighty said. "If they come Wednesday, and we are still in this situation where we have no benches for the three classrooms, we are going to ask them to go back home until the benches are here."
SECURITY CONCERNS
Mrs. Johnson-Mighty also expressed concerns about security at the school and the present state of mind of both teachers and students. "The teachers are traumatised, the children are frustrated and they are all crying and so we are happy for the counsellors," she said.
Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) northeast regional officer, Vilma Lawes-Munroe, said the situation was "distressing".
She said, "I think enough distress is here at Boscobel already and for the teachers to turn up this morning with empty classrooms, I think this has created additional stress for them and the JTA is very disappointed that there are still classrooms here that are bare."
Mrs. Munroe said the JTA was told that the Education Ministry was putting furniture in schools and she felt that, based on the circumstances, Boscobel Primary would have been given priority treatment.
