Registration jitters at La Romaine Secondary

WITH results of the 2018 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination set for release tomorrow, parents and teachers of the troubled La Romaine Secondary school are questioning who will undertake registration of the new intake of students.

Only a few of the approximately 40 teachers have been reporting for duty since May 29, when they were advised by their union, the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), to withdraw their services for health and safety reasons.

The Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) has upheld their decision for teachers to refuse to work at the La Romaine compound, which was found to be in breach of several electrical regulations. There were also reports of at least three fires in the last two years, the last fire being on May 17.

The Electrical Inspectorate which inspected the school after the last fire has given an August 21 deadline for them to comply with several recommendations, failing which the electricity supply will be disconnected.

Parents and teachers who spoke with the Newsday individually, also want to know if this is one of the 100 schools Education Minister Anthony Garcia says is earmarked for repair work during the July/August vacation and whether the school will meet the electrical inspectorate’s deadline and be reopened in time for the new school term. They said some “patch work” was done by a contractor employed by the Educational Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) in areas deemed to be critical, but no work is taking place on the compound right now.

One parent said, “Parents are angry, parents are frustrated, they don’t know what is going on. There was no end of term examination because of this situation at this critical period when our children are to be promoted to a higher form. Our children don’t know when to go for their book list or when to return their government-assisted text books. “We don’t know if students will have a school to attend when the new term opens in September. Some parents are seeking transfers for their children.”

Because of the situation, the 2018 graduation was held at the Pleasantville community centre last Thursday but all speakers, including the principal steered clear of the problems facing the school. The graduation ball is scheduled to take place at the same venue tomorrow.