Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

BROWN

THE CLARENDON Parish Council is yet to approve a plan to build the Sandy Bay High School, which is to accommodate some 300 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) students, because the Ministry of Education and Youth has failed to provide a completed plan.

Mayor of May Pen,Milton Brown, told The Gleaner yesterday that his office received a plan from the ministry last week, but it was incomplete. The mayor noted that a plan for a sewage treatment facility, among other things, were not clearly outlined. This, he said, was sent back to the ministry for it to be corrected.

Mayor Brown, who is also the chairman of the parish council, said he had advised the ministry's region six office some five weeks ago to submit the plan, so he could fast-track the process.

It is possible

"For a school, we need time because we need approval from the fire service, health service, National Works Agency, National Environment and Planning Agency ..." he told The Gleaner.

"If all hands get on deck with a focused objective, I think it is still possible (for the school to be finished in time for September)", said Mayor Brown.

"So, we will be doing all that is possible because we do recognise that we need the school spaces," he added.

Meanwhile, the ministry is to meet today with parents of children who were assigned to the Sandy Bay High School. This meeting will discuss, among other things, parents' concerns that the school is to be built in a volatile area.

The ministry last year, had problems finding space for some 3,000 GSAT students in Region Six, which includes the parishes of Clarendon and St. Catherine.

Put on hold

As such, the ministry implemented a Start-a-School Programme, which will provide some 1,200 school spaces.

Construction will occur on a phased basis, beginning with grade seven for GSAT students and grade 10 for Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT) students. Sandy Bay, Foga Road and Dunbeholden, St. Catherine, were to be a part of the project. However, plans for the Dunbeholden school has been put on hold, based on advice from the National Environment and Planning Agency. The students who were initially assigned to that institution were reassigned to three other schools in Portmore.

Construction for the other grades is expected to be completed by September 2008.

Efforts to get a comment from Lauriston Wilson, director of project management and technical services in the ministry were unsuccessful.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com