Principals and School Safety Leads from each school on the island took part in a two-day workshop on School Safety at the Morris Vanterpool Primary School that begun on Wednesday morning, January 10th, 2024.
The moderator was the Officer for Safe Schools Initiative, Mr. Ivan Francis, and the prime facilitator was the Director of Disaster Management, Ms. Susan Hodge.
Addressing the opening of the exercise, Chief Education Officer, Mr. Bren Romney remarked: “Welcome to the start of our school safety workshop. I cannot over emphasize the importance of the work that we will be doing here over the next two days. School safety has always been an important issue, but given the current state of affairs in Anguilla [with an increase in school violence] it is a top priority for us at this time.”
“We have had school safety plans for quite some time,” he noted. “We have had initiatives that have funded the development of these plans. All schools have grappled with how best to implement these plans with limited resources. But, in some aspects, various sections of these plans are still yet to be completed.”
“In my recent discussions on safety with our principals, we have priorities the completion of these plans, and we were hoping to do so by the end of December last year,” he said. “But given all the other intervening activities that were planned, it was not possible for us to finalize these plans for our set deadline date. So, I am grateful today that we have gotten to this point where we can pause for these two days and focus on the completion of our school safety plans.”
Mr. Romney said that he was equally grateful to the Department of Disaster Management and its Director, Ms. Susan Hodge, for the partnership with the schools and for the work that it has done in the past, and continues to do, to ensure that the schools are safe environments for students, teachers and all stakeholders.
He praised the work of Teacher Sandra and Teacher Susan for doing what they could for school safety in light of the limited resources. He said that due to their hard work, and the schools’ partnership with the Department of Disaster Management, a significant amount of progress relative to school safety had indeed been made over time.
“However,” he said, “there are three aspects of our school safety program that we want to concern ourselves with at this workshop:
“1. School security in terms of proper fencing and the presence of security guards. Free access to school properties is a concern for us in education as well as for our stakeholders. As far as the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School is concerned, funding has been secured to upgrade this aspect of security there. For the primary schools, funds are also being made available to hire security guards.
“2. Another concern is our school safety plans. When we have done with these documents, they should not be just left on our shelves, in our cupboards or on our desks, but they must be implemented and made readily available to all stakeholders. In addition, we must continuously sensitize stakeholders on the various security protocols that must be adhered to on a daily basis.
“3. I want to remind you of the ongoing EMIS project and how that relates to school safety and resilience. The very premise of the EMIS project is to ensure that our education system is one that can function under all circumstances – in normal times as well as in times of interruptions or natural disasters.”
Director of the Department of Disaster Management, Ms. Susan Hodge, told the gathering of educators, that the workshop was a crucial one, since it concerns the safety of all individuals who are linked to the school environment.
“As Director of Disaster Management,” she said, “it is both an honor and a responsibility for me to address you as we embark on a collective effort to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, teachers and the entire school staff. In a world where unforeseen challenges are a constant reality; it becomes imperative for us to proactively address potential risks that can lead to disasters within the educational setting.”
Ms. Hodge pledged her commitment, in her capacity, to do what she can do through her Department, to safeguard the wellbeing of those who are involved in education in the island’s schools. “This workshop marks a significant step in that direction,” she commented.
The workshop also included addresses from the Anguilla Fire and Rescue Services as well as lectures on school safety from the Royal Anguilla Police Force.
