Dana Malcolm 
Staff Writer 

Three boys were injured and visitation at the Cheshire Hall Medical Center in Providenciales was suspended for about 18 hours following a school brawl on Wednesday afternoon at the Clement Howell High.

“At Clement Howell High School, the safety and well-being of our students are of utmost priority. We are taking this incident very seriously and are currently conducting a thorough investigation to ascertain the root cause and circumstances that led to this regrettable situation,” The Ministry of Education said in a press release Thursday Morning.

It followed reports of a large fight that began to come in early Wednesday morning with residents reporting not just the police but the presence of an ambulance on school grounds.

By 2 p.m. communication came from the TCI Hospital that they had suspended visitation; an action usually reserved for the aftermath of violent events.

The hospital did not say why it was closing its doors, only indicating that it was for the safety of its patients and staff as well as their families.

The Ministry cleared up some of what had happened in their statement indicating that the injured students, one 15 -year-old and two 16-year-olds, had been  taken to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment.

“Contrary to reports circulating on social media, there were no further incidents at the hospital, however, as a standard precautionary measure, the hospital went on lockdown mode,” it said.

When Magnetic Media contacted the police around 4 p.m. Wednesday to find out what caused the ruckus they told us they were still on scene. Speaking to media later on they revealed the cause of the fight was still unknown but that they were using video evidence and interviews to piece it together.

Videos, shot by students, were shared with the news team, showing the extent of the fighting.

In them a large knot of boys is seen in multiple videos, some throwing punches, some kicking and pushing and some others trying in vain to separate their schoolmates. A lone white clad individual, possibly a security guard, is dragged along in the melee of fighting teens.  Some are seen brandishing what appears to be rocks, which could have been used as weapons.

There were several mobs where fights broke out; mostly boys but also girls involved.

By news production time, no news had come from police of any arrests made but the hospital resumed regular operations on Thursday morning around 9:30 a.m.

The brawl comes just weeks before the Reaching the Streets initiative which is aimed at tackling violence and criminal activities in teens and young adults.

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.

Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.

Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.

Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.

“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.

Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.

A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.

When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,

“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”

Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins

“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”

This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.

The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.

“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.

Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability

PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19^th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.

FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1^st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”

This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.

“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.

Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.

Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.

For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.

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