Titchfield fills majority of vacancies after 22 resignations

PORTLAND:

Titchfield High School has managed to fill all but one vacancy after 22 teachers resigned from the Portland-based school for unspecified reasons during the summer holidays.

Principal Richard Thompson told The Gleaner on Monday that the number of vacancies had threatened to cause a disruption, but he expressed relief that new appointments were made. He was, however, quick to note that, nevertheless, the school lost a cohort of well-experienced and specialist teachers.

Currently, the school is only in need of an additional physics teacher.

Thompson noted that the vacancy exists in a rather critical area, as the school wants to preserve its legacy of success in the subject. He said that the Ministry of Education has intervened and rendered some assistance, paving the way to engage part-time teachers to fill any void.

“We have the alternative of having a person come in who is in his or her final year at a teacher’s college or at university. So, we are exploring that possibility but currently, as we speak, we are without a critical position. We hope that the measures that we will put in place will be enough and that we can maintain our high standard generally, especially in the sciences,” added Thompson.

A new feature at Titchfield High is a wheelchair ramp, which is currently under construction, obtained through an initiative led by the Ministry of Education. It is aimed at providing easier access to physically challenged persons, including a student with a disability now enrolled there.

Meanwhile, several minibus operators were left fuming on Monday after a police clampdown on the number of students they could carry per trip from Buff Bay to Port Antonio, resulting in some pupils being left stranded for hours at bus stops.

But the police said that, over time, there had been a practice of minibus drivers and conductors cramming students into their vehicles, forcing them to sit in each other’s laps, while playing lewd music, and with some reportedly engaging in sexual activities on board.

One cop, who did not want to be identified, insisted in a Gleaner interview that such a practice could not be allowed to continue, as it contributes to the breakdown of law and order, noting the dangers of exposing children to sexual acts and content.

Elsewhere across the parish, schools such as Port Antonio Primary, Port Antonio High, Portland High, Boundbrook Primary, Buff Bay Primary, Buff Bay High, St Margaret’s Bay Primary, and Orange Bay Primary reported no major issues as the new school year got under way.

gareth.davis@gleanerjm.com