On Monday teachers at the Mackenzie High School implemented a board of governors decision to suspend classes for Forms One to Three as the steps to the building which hosts those classes are unsafe.
The landing and corridor of the Linden Concert Hall (LICHAS), where those form rooms are housed, have been in a deplorable condition with no redress from the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council (RDC). Chairman of the school board Brian Claxton said the action was taken as a last resort as a period of dialogue with the Regional Executive Officer (REO) Henry Rodney by the head teacher produced no response.
Claxton said last December Rodney sent an engineer to accompany him to investigate the building’s faulty areas. “The REO told me that he has some money in some areas, and would try and get action taken urgently,” he said. On January 22 the board handed down their decision since no action was taken. The decision was withheld for one week to allow those on vacation at the time to return to duty. Claxton said Rodney “responded to this third correspondence by saying that the head teacher was threatening him and he would send it to the ministry officials.” The chairman reiterated that the head teacher penned the letter to Rodney based on instructions from the board.
Last Sunday, Claxton said, another engineer was sent to accompany him again to identify unsafe areas at the school and to “come up with a plan which, co-incidentally, was promised three months ago.” Claxton said the school was again given assurances that action would be taken but “the only time that I am aware of something being done at the MHS was when, without knowledge or sanctioning of the board, the good, tiled floor of the Home Economics Department was damaged in the effort to remove good tiles, to retile this place that never needed it.” Claxton also said that this project was not done at the request of the head teacher.
The chairman said in 2005 during a budgeting exercise, a request was made for work to be done on the sanitary facilities and for a rotten fence to be repaired so that poultry and produce from the farm would not be lost. These and other requests, Claxton said, including one to repaint the school and refurbish the perimeter lights seem to have all fallen on deaf ears. “We have not received a response in writing, but have instead been told that no money is available until after the budget exercise has been completed,” he said.
The LICHAS houses classrooms for 300 children and a computer laboratory, which, after being completed some years now, does not have a single computer system installed.
