PTA: Community destroying South East PoS Secondary

THE South East Port of Spain Secondary School remained a ghost town on October 18 after a volley of gunshots on October 17 led to the school being dismissed early. The school was granted an official day off by the Education Ministry.

Three people were injured in the shooting incident on nearby Nelson Street.

When Newsday visited the school on October 18, the only people on the compound were two MTS security guards, who said they were uneasy about being there but had no choice in the matter.

They said the experience the day before had not been a nice one, with many people panicking as the shots ran out.

Parent Teacher Association president Denise Braithwaite said via a phone interview on October 18 that the general consensus among parents, teachers, and students was that something needed to be done.

“It is evident that the criminal elements no longer regard the fact that it's a school. So, we have gone from one extreme to another where it wasn't a threat even though we are on Nelson Street because we weren’t affected as much, and now, as we can clearly see, the brazen attacks are increasing on a daily basis.

“Something needs to be done and it's not just, you know, finding the person or persons responsible for the acts, but a more definite move has to be made.

“Either we get a separate police post right outside of the school to ensure around-the-clock safety, because even the regular police support they have isn't a deterrent, or bottom line, remove the school.

“The general consensus is you don't remove a school from a community but we now have to look at the bigger picture that the community is playing an active part in destroying the school. We may still close the school, because if this continues to happen, children can never return to the classroom and settle normally.”

Braithwaite said the students of the school came from as far as Maracas, Blanchisseuse, Sangre Grande and Diego Martin to attend the school, so moving the school would not adversely affect most of the students.

“It's not just students from East Port of Spain attending the school. And even though we have students from East Port of Spain attending, these may be students who may not have experienced any criminal activity in their lives before, and they are equally shaken as the people in the school who may have experienced violence.”

The PTA president called for short-term solutions to be put in place while discussions were taking place.

“We could look at online like during covid. We could look at a temporary relocation, but all of that is being done, while we look at a long-term solution because it doesn’t appear that crime is getting better in the community.”

She said psychological interviews were planned for students and teachers but could not say when those would take place.

“The psycho-social support staff will treat with each child individually, as some were more traumatised than others. Some would have had panic attacks.”

Braithwaite said conversations were to take place on Friday about the way forward regarding re-opening the school.

Port of Spain police division head Snr Supt Raymond Thom said patrols continued in the area as normal.

“Nothing extra has happened, we always pay attention to the school and that area because of certain elements and that same action continues. We haven’t seen anything untoward for the day thus far. We are still continuing enquiries into the incident. We’re getting some vital information, so the police are working.”

On October 17, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby Dolly said during the standing finance committee that the ministry was working on ensuring the correct strength of security officers was present at schools.