Educator Daryll Jordan passed away on Saturday morning. He was in his mid-80s.
Jordan served as the first principal of the St Lucy Secondary School from the time it was officially opened by then Minister of Education Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, now Sir Lloyd, on October 28 1971, until he retired in 1995.
On November 9, 2012, the school was officially renamed Daryll Jordan Secondary School in his honour.
Jordan received his early education at All Saints Boys’ and Coleridge and Parry School.
During his tenure at St Lucy Secondary, according to historian Dr Henderson Carter, he established community service projects, incentive schemes to acknowledge good behavior and set up the home/school programme which fostered better relationships between parents and teachers. Home visits by teachers were a part of that experience.
Jeff Broomes, himself a retired principal, paid tribute to Jordan, his former head many years ago.
“As a principal, he was the manifestation of national pride, using his intellect, ability and genuine concern to help improve the lives of all who entered the gates of St Lucy Secondary School,” Broomes wrote in 2015 when he was a Sunday Sun columnist.
“He had little but gave so much; he suffered in pursuit of where his real ability should have taken him, but he accepted his lot and ensured the success of more students and teachers than one can ever remember. . . As a young teacher, I was challenged, chastised and chased by Mr Jordan. As I look back at my professional life now on the dusk of my career, I see a significant fingerprint that speaks loudly and uninterruptedly about his influence.” (SAT)
