Parents take matters into their own hands

Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Senator Harry Husbands, has assured the First and Second Vice Presidents of the Parent-Teacher Association at the Combermere School, Alan Marshall and Sharron Lucas-Blackman respectively, that he will pass on the letter that they delivered to the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, and that it will be reviewed.

These sentiments came from Alan Marshall after the brief meeting with the Senator, that came about after delivering a letter that contained all of the concerns of the members of the PTA as to how the problem of Combermere School was being treated.

“From previous meetings, we see that they have kept their word, so we see no reason as to why this should not continue,” he said.

The parents of the students of the Combermere Secondary School decided it was time to take matters into their own hands, as they gathered together yesterday morning in Queen’s Park to show their support of the letter that was delivered to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.

Addressing the parents present, Sharron Lucas-Blackman explained one of the main concerns was what was going to be done about the time that was lost due to the school being closed now for five weeks. She reminded persons present that next term was sports term, and revealed that a suggestion was put forward to forfeit participating during that term because “academics take priority”.

“We have lost, up to yesterday, 6400 minutes of teaching time. That’s seven periods a day for 40 minutes for 19 or 20 days,” she said.

The First Vice President, Alan Marshall, divulged that they have not heard anything from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation about how the time lost could be made up. He said that even though a suggestion was made that the school does not take part in Inter-School sports next term, the decision was out of their control, stating that even though the suggestion meant that the athletes would be “short-changed” due to not participating, it was better for them not to be short-changed of their education.

He also revealed that the letter also contained an expression of just how disappointed the PTA were in how long it has taken for this problem to be resolved.

Marshall said that transferring of the students was not an option as all the schools were full; regardless, the students have expressed that they do not want to be transferred.