Garvey Maceo High forced to cancel in-person classes due to roadblock

 

Garvey Maceo High School in Clarendon had to cancel physical classes on Monday as staff members were not able to get to work due to a roadblock on the Crooks Gate main road, which connects May Pen to Milk River.

 

Students who made it school were sent home.

 

Erica Ewbanks, Principal of Garvey Maceo High School, says the teachers are able to engage the students online but this is not ideal.

 

Ms Ewbanks is disappointed that the road had to be blocked for attention to be given to the pothole-riddled thoroughfare. 

 

"We are starting off face-to-face which is the way to go, which is what we want to do, and then here is this happening. And then I'm not even sure if it's only a one-day, if they're coming back tomorrow or the following day," she lamented.  

 

Taxi operator Nakia Sterling said motorists are forced to slowdown or stop to manoeuvre the potholes and the conditions are causing extended travel times. 

 

"What we are saying as taxi operators, it's not that the road need fi fix right now, but we are losing. We can't afford fi carry the passengers," he explained. "When you on a Milk River route as a passenger, yuh siddown outta May Pen fi four hour because it tek we ah hour from May Pen, which is a 15-minute drive. From May Pen to go to Milk River it a tek we four hours now. So, how we as taxi operator fi survive?"

 

The protesters also used the opportunity to appeal for potable water in the Crooks Gate area. They say the lack of the commodity is preventing the reopening of Crooks Gate Basic School.