Big bucks to fix school

Repairs to 22 primary schools this summer will cost the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development some $1 million.This was revealed by the acting project manager of the ministry’s Education Project Implementation Unit (EPIU), Richard Harrison.He said that the repairs, which started at the end of June, were scheduled to end by August 20, one week before staff return to prepare for the official re-opening of the schools on Monday, September 6.“This is to give principals and teachers a full week of access to the completed sites before the children return to their classrooms, and to ensure that everything is shipshape,” Harrison said.He pointed out that work on some schools would be general in nature, while on others it would be quite specific, including upgrading certain ceilings, nutrition rooms, floors, the provision of covered walkways and the relocation of pre-fabricated buildings at six schools, to allow for additional space. The 22 schools under repair are: Chalky Mount, Charles F. Broome, Deacons, Eden Lodge Nursery, Erdiston Special Unit, Good Shepherd, Grantley Prescod, Hilda Skeene, Hillaby Turner’s Hall, Holy Innocents, Roland Edwards, Selah, Sharon, St Bartholomew’s, All Saints, St James, St Giles, St Luke’s St Margaret’s, St Mary’s, St Stephen’s Nursery and St Stephen’s Primary.Harrison said some floors would be replaced at Charles F. Broome; roofs erected over stairways at Deacons Primary and over walkways at St Giles and Erdiston Special Unit.  Windows and beams would be upgraded at St Luke’s Primary. He added: “Prefabricated buildings will be erected at St. James, Hillaby, Roland Edwards, All Saints, Good Shepherd and Selah Primary Schools. These are not new buildings, but are being relocated. They will also require some repairs in the process of being installed at the schools.” (JG/BGIS)