#Freeport, September 23, 2019 – Bahamas – Minister of Education, the Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd flew into Grand Bahama on Thursday, September 19, 2019 to inspect the condition of public schools, most of which were devastated by Hurricane Dorian.
Initially, government schools were set to re-open on Monday,
September 23, 2019, but that can change once all of the assessments have been
made.
“We would like to get school started as soon as possible, but
we’re very concerned about the safety of our children,” said Minister Lloyd. “We
want to ensure that the water system is stable and that electricity is
available for the teachers and the students. We also have to ensure that our
teachers, administrators and support staff are in the frame of mind to educate
our children.
“This has been devastation for everyone involved. Some people have
lost everything and they have been debilitated as a result.”
The Minister said that he has had the opportunity to speak with
Mrs. Lewis, the Principal at East End Primary school, who confirmed that she
has a number of students from her school missing, as well as parents and
grandparents still not accounted for.
He added that the students from East End will have to be
accommodated in the Freeport area or in Nassau, if necessary.
“But we are here to not just assess the situation, but to be
sensitive and to offer our support,” said Minister Lloyd.
Accompanied by the District Superintendent of Education in Grand
Bahama, Ivan Butler and Ministry of Education officials from Nassau, Minister
Lloyd visited a number of primary, junior and senior schools in Grand Bahama.
The Minister acknowledged that from his tour, the Hugh Campbell
Primary school was (at that point) the worse he had seen. The school was
flooded with at least nine feet of water, with windows and doors blown out. Upon
the Minister’s visit, workers were still busy cleaning out classrooms, dumping
school desks, chairs, and books; pulling up soaked and mildewed carpets and
tearing out wet sheet rock and throwing them into piles within the school yard.
“That school is in very, very bad shape,” noted Minister Lloyd.
“It is much worse than we had anticipated. So, that is going to cause our
budget to have to be adjusted. But some of the schools appear as if they can be
opened once proper cleanup has taken place.”
At Jack Hayward High School, Minister Lloyd was given a short tour
of some of the damage at the senior school. Although the teachers and staff
members had cleaned up much of the debris that had been caused by the storm, evidence
of some damage was visible at the entrance of the building, where flooding had
taken place.
Minister Lloyd said that once he and his team of Education
officials have assessed all of the government schools on the island, a meeting
will be held and a decision will be made as to when schools will be opened. He
admitted that because of the level of destruction at some of the schools, there
is a possibility that those schools would take much longer to reopen.
The Education Minister said that there are some possible locations
that have been identified that could be used temporarily for students and
teachers until some schools have been repaired.
“Mr. Ivan Butler our District Superintendent is giving us a
heads-up on that aspect of things,” said Minister Lloyd. “In the event that we
find that the repairs will take longer than we anticipate, he’s looking into
places we can use in the interim.
“We may have to do some creative things to get the kids back into
school and going again. We all know that from a psychological standpoint that
as quickly as we can get kids back to some sense of normalcy, it would help
with sense of getting back the lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to.”
Asked how smoothly the process of assimilating students from Abaco
into Nassau will run, Minister Lloyd noted that getting the children into
Nassau was not a problem. However, trying to register children into various
schools proved to be a challenge, although he added, the Ministry has tackled
that problem effectively.
“We’ve already registered over 1,200 students and over 250
teachers and administrators; and this weekend we are going to start placing
them in respective schools. As a matter of fact, some students have already
begun to be placed in respective public schools.
“I do know that we had initially invited the private schools to
offer spaces if any was available and many of them did. So, we have students
already in the private schools. We’re making progress, but we have to do it
right, that’s why it’s taking a little longer.
“We want to make sure that everyone is immunized properly, that
they are properly identified and that they have the amenities that they need.
And then we have to identify which schools have the space to [accommodate]
them.”
All things considered, Minister Lloyd said that he’s looking
forward to the schools getting to the point where things are considered normal
again. In the meantime, the Minister said while they would like to move quickly
to get schools up and running again, they want to do so with a level of
sensitivity.
By Andrew Coakley
Release: BIS
BIS Photos/Andrew Coakley
DISCUSSING DAMAGE – Minister of Education, Jeffrey Lloyd (with cap
on) speaks Thursday with some of the teachers and maintenance workers at
Freeport Primary School about the damage caused to the school as a result of
Hurricane Dorian.
WHAT ABOUT WATER ISSUES? – Minister of Education the Hon. Jeffrey
Lloyd visited Grand Bahama public schools, September 19, 2019 to assess damage
to those structures during Hurricane Dorian. Joining, Minister Lloyd on the tour of GB schools
was District Superintendent for Grand Bahama, Ivan Butler, along with Education
officials. During his visit to Jack Hayward High School, Minister Lloyd got to
speak with Geron Turnquest (left), General Manager of Grand Bahama Utilities,
concerning water issues.
HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? – During his assessment tour of Jack Hayward
School, Minister of Education, Jeffrey Lloyd sees injured hand of one of the
security officers at the school.