According to the officials, residents and pedestrians in the area use the chain-linked fence at the back of the school as a shortcut to Madeira Street. The fence is located directly on the boarder of Culmersville. However, the school’s principal, Mrs Becca Mae Stubbs, said there have not been any incidents. She added that a concrete wall would enhance safety measures for students during school hours.
“At 12:30, when the kids are outside for a break, persons are walking through the yard. During these occasions the administrative team and the security officers, we are all vigilant and we are on site. We are actually on the field with the children … no harm has come to the children this far,” she said. “This wall will be used to safeguard all of our students, all of our staff members and all other stockholders here on this campus.”
Culmersville residents reportedly use the entrance to the back gates of the school as a shortcut to get to the various stores and the bus stops on Madeira Street.
Mrs Stubbs said the pedestrians have not caused any problems in the past four years she has been the school’s principal. She claimed the institution needs the concrete wall as a “precautionary measure.”
She expressed that the Ministry of Education (MOE) has been actively involved in ensuring the campus is secure by repairing and replacing the fence on two occasions. However, she believes the fence was intentionally damaged to allow pedestrians access to the premises.
“We have repaired and replaced the fence at the back of the school yard and the gates. Because we feel that the community has used the school grounds so long as a shortcut, they reacted against procedures when we lock the gates during school hours,” she added. “The gates were being damaged to prevent them from being locked.”
Vice Principal, Mrs Jacqueline Sands, believes the wall needs to be erected to cut down on the indiscriminate dumping of old couches, refrigerators and other household waste into the school’s garbage containers.
“There were times when the dumpsters would have been emptied for the day, and when you are retuning the following morning you would find lots of household waste and broken appliances. Many times the dumpster is over-filled with those things,” she added. Senior Mistress at the school, Mrs Janet Gardiner, said indiscriminate dumping has been a problem for the 15 years she has been employed at the institution.
President of the school’s parent and teachers association, Vallant Charlton, the parent of a fourth-grader, said they will hold a ‘gala fair’ in May to generate funds for the erection of a concrete wall.
The school’s principal added that the school is having the fair to play their part in safeguarding the students. “I believe it takes a village to raise a child. We can’t always sit by and wait for the government to do everything,” Said Mrs Stubbs.
By: LaShonne Outten, The Nassau Guardian
