Sabotage at school?
Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones says it appears that some form of sabotage is taking place at Combermere School.
He made the disclosure while delivering a Ministerial Statement in the House of Assembly yesterday morning. While thanking all those who assisted in monitoring the situation at the school, including Engineer, Grenville Phillips Jr. and the independent team of professionals – Environmental Engineer, Brian Reece; Chemist, Dr. Leah Garner-O’Neal; Civil Engineer, Greg Parris, and Industrial Hygienist, Ian Weekes, who gave of their time free of cost to help remedy the situation, he spoke to what appears to be a “deliberate attempt to sabotage” the work that has been undertaken at the school.
In fact, he specifically referred to three instances where their recent efforts were disrupted. According to Jones, on Thursday, January 26, 2017 hand-towels and leaves from students’ books were found to be blocking drainage pipes from a toilet in an area where complaints were previously made, and again on Monday, January 30, a similar incident occurred.
“I’m sad Sir, to report that last week we found after closure of one of the labs, where natural gas is present in that lab, that on return of the teacher to that lab, it was found – and that was some 45 minutes after her exit – that two of those natural gas pipes were turned on and left on in that lab. Vigilance has ensured that its impact on the school was nullified,” he said.
But it appears these instances may not have been the first. The Minister noted that after the school was reopened in September 2016, there were again complaints of odours affecting sections of the main classrooms and the secretary/treasurer’s office. He said at the time the cover of the manhole of the septic tank was found to be dislodged and the cap of a ground level vent pipe to the nearby sewerage well, was broken and the cap missing.
“Gases would have been escaping from this point as well. At the same time, a second floor vent pipe was noted to be leaking gas from a joint opening. This would have allowed gases to affect nearby third floor rooms which had in fact also recently complained of odours,” he said.
Speaking to some of the work done to remedy the situation at the school, he said they excavated the soil cover of a nearby sewerage pipe coming from upper floor toilets, as part of the process of mapping the system, and a puncture was found, and leaking of effluent into the soil was confirmed and fixed. With that in mind, he said all the leaks that were found were subsequently repaired, the tank cover resealed and the manhole cover secured with locks. He added then that following complaints of odours and notable skin irritation at the start of the 2016-2017 school year, further attention was paid to drainage on the school compound.
Meanwhile, touching on the illnesses reported at the school, he said that reports from the nursing consultant that was attached to Combermere School for a one and half-month period, suggest that less than five of the illnesses reported at that time were due to environmental factors at the school. He said that nursing consultant was provided by the Ministry of Health, between May 17 and June 30, 2016, to assess and assist any incidence of ailment that occurred and to document the perceived causes.
According to Jones, the nurse’s report stated that 13 persons were referred to polyclinics and two to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Additionally, it noted that of the 131 incidents documented only three were assessed as relating to the environment of the school.
He said that report indicated that there was local irritation reported due to damaged desks and there was a noticeable improvement following the application of the corrective measures. Prior to that, he said, there were intermittent user reports of ill health which included instances of dizziness, light headedness, nausea and skin irritation and which individuals associated with experiencing the odours or specific conditions in certain areas of the school. (JRT)