There is a big combined rush by personnel from the Ministries and Departments of Infrastructure and Education, and construction workers, to prepare the Adrian T Hazell Primary School for reopening on Monday, September 1.
The entire four buildings, comprising the school, with a roll of almost three hundred students, have been in a state of disrepair and insanitation for some time. Teachers have long complained about such conditions as rodent and bat infestation, droppings, leaking roofs and mildew roof tiles, threatening the health and comfort of the teaching staff and students.
The Government has responded by moving to have design drawings to substantially reconstruct the school, but such plans, said to have been already drawn, are still sitting around. With the complaints by the teachers, and the chances that the school would not reopen if something was not done about the situation, some hurried and remedial work has now being taking place.
Workmen, under the supervision of the Department of Infrastructure, have been engaged in repairing some of the roofs to combat the rat and leaking problems. The old, soggy and discoloured roof tiles have been replaced in some areas, and other remedial work has been ongoing over the past several days, including spraying.
Much of the repair work has been concentrated on the kindergarten section of the school, given the nature of the problem and the susceptibility of very young children to illness from insanitary conditions.
Teachers have been out in full force at the school – scrubbing floors, cleaning furniture and doing other chores – to help to get the school ready for its reopening. Of course, teachers at the other schools have also been preparing their classrooms for September 1, but the Adrian T Hazell Primary School has been, and continues to be, the main focus in the hope that the work there can be completed on time.
Meanwhile, it has been officially stated that construction work should commence later this year on the first phase of rebuilding the school. The plan is for a new building, comprising eight classrooms, to be constructed to the west of the current kindergarten section, encroaching on part of the playground.
The teachers are anxious to see the rebuilding of the entire school as quickly as possible. They maintain that quality teaching, to which they are committed to providing, can only be provided if there are quality buildings in which to teach.
Meanwhile, the Adrian T Hazell Primary School is one of the six public schools where there have been transfers and appointments of new Principals. The new appointee at that school is Mrs Tracelyn Hamilton who has been transferred from the Vivien Vanterpool School at Island Harbour, where she was posted for six-and-a-half years. She has been succeeded there by Mrs Mavis Fleming-Drakes, former Principal of the Adrian T Hazell School.
