A group of parents and students of the Wismar Christianburg Secondary School took to the streets in Linden yesterday calling for repairs to the school to be treated with some level of urgency after a section of the building was destroyed by fire.
Almost two months ago a fire suspected to have been electrical in origin gutted three rooms on the upper flat of the three-storey school building on Blue Berry Hill. The classrooms on the third and second storeys, directly below where the fire was, along with one teacher’s apartment on the bottom flat, have suffered extensive water damage.
Since the fire the school’s head teacher Cleveland Thomas said that he was in constant contact with regional officials lobbying for the repairs to be dealt with urgently.
Six weeks after the fire, the contract for repairs were awarded to Winston Caesar General Contracting Services, a Linden-based contractor, following a sit-in protest by teachers at the school over the hazardous conditions they were made to work under, especially when it rained.
Yesterday parents and students, frustrated by the delay in getting the works off the ground, took to the streets voicing their concerns and calling for the authorities to step up the pace of the repairs or to withdraw the contract. It is felt that the contractor is having a problem sourcing the necessary materials because of a lack of funds.
Walking the stretch of Republic Avenue from the Regional Administration Office and the Department of Education the group carried a number of placards with slogans reading ‘No repairs, No school’, ‘CWSS is a danger ZONE’, ‘Children got to shelter under umbrella in a school building’, among others.
Parent and member of the PTA Ray Harvey said that the process is taking too long and students and teachers are being left to feel the effects of the hardship. He said that parents are concerned about the safety and health of their children as well as the welfare of the teachers at the school.
“We the parents had to go at the school and block off that area after the contractors removed the debris. It was us the parents who bought nails and we bar up that area.”
Harvey said that the PTA was told three weeks ago that the contract was awarded but the only work that was done to date was the clearing away of the debris.
“Week before the last they told us that they give them twenty-one days to complete the contract and up to today there is not a single piece of material on spot to even start the work.”
Another parent, Marlon Parris, said that there are a number of hazardous risks the students and teachers are exposed to. He said male and female students are being made to use the same toilets because of limited access.
“The other day a teacher attempted to use a toilet and got her butt cut and had to get thirteen stitches.” Parris said that while the teachers’ rooms and toilet blocks on the upper flat were gutted a number of classrooms on floors below were severely affected.
Contacted yesterday, contractor Caesar said that he should not be made to shoulder the blame for the late start of the repairs. “I don’t want persons to feel that I have been neglecting to do the repairs,” said Caesar.
He explained that there were a number of issues that had to be dealt with at the level of the Regional Administration which he had written them about. “It’s strange that they are referring to this as emergency works when it took them six weeks to award the contract.”
In a letter to the Senior Superintendent of Works of the RDC, P. Johnson, dated 25th October, 2011 Caesar called for an urgent review of the scope of work that is necessary. The contract was awarded in the sum of $3.7M.
According to the letter, “Upon commencement of the demolition work I recognized that the amount of demolition work is much more than is stated in the bill, correspondingly the sum inserted for the scaffolding was required to execute a greater scope of demolition. This argument also holds good for the additional amount of debris to be removed from the site along with the additional labour force and transportation required.”
At the time of the submission of the letter all the demolition works were completed, but the contractor’s efforts to have the senior superintendant of works visit the site prove futile.
“I am fully aware that it is difficult for a proper assessment of the real scope of the work to be done prior to demolition, however it is essential that a review be conducted urgently,” Caesar stated in the letter.
In the letter the contractor also indicated his intentions to work on the roof as the first activity but was hampered by the unavailability of equipment. “The latter material is not kept in stock and the order has already been placed with the supplier using the quantity in the bill.”
Caesar said that he was taken aback on Wednesday when he received a letter, fifteen days after writing the regional administration informing them of the challenges of the project, stating, “This letter serves as a warning and you’re therefore given until Friday, 11 November to complete an adequate amount of reconstructive work or the administration will be forced to take the necessary action.” The letter was signed by Regional Engineer Clive Peters.
In the letter Caesar was rebuked for not having any reconstructive work done apart from the necessary demolition works, sixteen days after the agreed commencement date which was the 24th October, 2011. “It was stated in your letter that the supplier had indicated that this material (floor joist) would have been supplied within seven days,” the letter stated.
The engineer said in his letter that an investigation was made to various lumber yards querying the availability of the items and the time span for a special order and it was found that it is possible to acquire them within or less than the time frame submitted by Caesar.
Yesterday morning Caesar was seen transporting materials which he said was bound for the school but was delayed for several hours due to the closure of the Mackenzie/Wismar bridge. The bridge was closed from 9:00-13:00hrs yesterday to facilitate repairs to the central span, an activity which has become a norm since the major section of the main crossing had undergone millions of dollars in repairs late last year.
The contractor said that he was surprised at the warning and threat because the engineer accompanied him to the site for the first time on Wednesday, fourteen days after his request. In responding to the warning letter Caesar said, “I am willing to meet with you or any other senior member of the administration to discuss a more efficient way forward or the termination of my responsibilities as the contractor for this project.”
Caesar said that he had shared the letter indicating his challenges with the school’s head teacher and the President of the PTA.
Meanwhile parents said that an officer attached to the Regional Administration, Courtney Handy, had assured them that if no work is done over the weekend the contract would be withdrawn from the initial contractor.
“This is how it going down, we going to the school with our children on Monday morning bright and early and if we don’t see what we expect to see we’ll be locking the gates, no child nor teacher would be allowed to enter that compound. We going with chain and padlock,” said a parent.
The school has on roll 1,150 students and over 50 teachers in addition to administrative staff.
