Parents of students attending the Blackman and Gollop Primary School are still uncertain as to whether the school will reopen tomorrow.
While vice president of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Jeanette Clarke, told NATION ONLINE that industrial cleaning had been completed yesterday, the executive were still not sure when the school would be reopened.
“I passed by the school yesterday, and I can say for a fact that industrial cleaning was being done. I cannot say for sure if school is reopening tomorrow, because to me if the Ministry [of Education] close the school, they are supposed to reopen it.
“We don’t have no word on that, and it’s still up in the air. I asked the principal [Petrona Holder], and there wasn’t any confirmed word from her either as to the reopening of the school tomorrow. Even though the cleaning has been done, it is still something you have to wait on the approval of the ministry,” she said.
When contacted, Minister of Education Ronald Jones referred comment to Chief Education Officer Karen Best, stating that “she would be in command of all of the relevant actions and information”.
Repeated efforts to reach Best for comment were unsuccessful.
Last week classes ground to a halt at the Staple Grove, Christ Church institution, after teachers and students complained of itching and ash blowing into the classrooms as a result of the on-going environmental issues.
Holder informed parents at an emergency PTA meeting last Monday that all end of term exams were cancelled, and class four students have since been relocated to the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology.
Amidst complaints from parents, the school has been repeatedly closed since the beginning of this term, with them commenting that this is the worst they have seen the cow itch in the almost seven years that the school has been opened. (RA)
