Class four students at Gordon Walters Primary School will relocate to the nearby St Patrick’s Anglican Church for face-to-face instruction starting Tuesday, while the rest of the school transitions to online learning, following the discovery of additional safety hazards beyond an existing rodent infestation, the Ministry of Educational Transformation said Monday.
Minister of Educational Transformation, Senator Chad Blackman, along with Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, school officials, and representatives from various organisations, conducted a site visit on Sunday.
But despite remediation efforts over the last five days, including baiting, classroom repairs, and industrial cleaning, further inspections revealed previously unnoticed breaches that posed a risk to the school community, the ministry said in a statement.
“On their return to the plant this morning, staff identified some breaches not noticed previously that could adversely affect the teaching-learning process at the school. Hence, on further investigation, and in the interest of the health and safety of staff and students, the decision was made to suspend classes at the school from [Tuesday], until such time as those issues can be addressed effectively,” the ministry said.
“Whilst the school continues to receive urgent attention relative to the presence of rodents, it has been determined that the plant needs a comprehensive clean, so as to complement the other measures being taken to eradicate the rodents that were at the school. The minister and our team spoke to the school’s teachers and assured them of the ministry’s commitment to wrestling the issue to the ground, in the interest of teachers, students, ancillary staff and parents alike,” Chief Education Officer Dr Brashaw said.
Minister Blackman also announced the implementation of a new vector protocol for all schools, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders.
“All schools must now be guided by a vector protocol created between the Ministry of Educational Transformation, the ministry with responsibility for health, and other stakeholders, so as to standardise how these matters are prevented, (including the disposal of food, cleanliness of our school facilities); and if incidents with rodents do occur, be addressed and dealt with in quick and decisive order,” the ministry reported.
In another development, The St Michael School reopened its doors on Monday after being closed last week for industrial cleaning and retrofitting. A comprehensive tour of the school on Sunday, conducted by the minister, the chief education officer, school officials, a representative from the parent-teacher association and teachers’ unions, deemed the remediation work satisfactory.
“BSTU and BUT representatives visited the school this morning and were pleased with the level of remediation and are committed to working with the school’s board of management and the principal in ensuring that continued checks are done in an effort to facilitate smooth operations at the school,” the ministry said. (BT)
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