Principal responds to 'Prison schools'

THE EDITOR, Sir:

We at Norman Manley High School were very disturbed, distraught, and disgruntled when we read your headline 'Prison schools' in The Gleaner of Wednesday, January 22, 2014. We believe that we are helping ourselves and doing a fine job of it. Education officers remark on the peaceful setting of the school when they visit. My own education officer asked me if school was on vacation on a particular day, because all classes were engaged in learning in a conducive atmosphere.

This atmosphere was not created by accident. It is through the deliberate effort of our hard-working staff which has been committed to improving the behaviour of our students and making our school a centre of excellence. It is because of this commitment that the parents' attendance and participation in the parent-teachers association (PTA) are increasing and, more and more, parents are seeking to send their children to our school. This headline only seeks to undermine this effort.

Be reminded that it was because of your own inquiries that Norman Manley High School was the featured school for Education Week in May 2013. This was because of the tremendous improvement in the behaviour of our students. Our school continues to employ programmes to make our students better beings. These include:

• Behaviour modification workshops
• Parenting workshops
• Court visits
• Raising the praise at devotion
• Home visits
• Celebration of a Norman Manley Day, inculcating pride in students, among other things.

We have dismantled all gangs in the school. This was done in collaboration with the strong leadership of our school board. Students are now fearful to be associated with gang activities in the school. The problem of violent confrontations, especially on the streets, by our students has significantly decreased or is non-existent.

If you should carefully examine the study to which you made reference, with a sample size of 894, the frequency of the Norman Manley High School is 13 and the highest frequency is 20, which is attributed to another school. This we believe is insignificant to support your headline 'Prison schools'.

Please note that the majority of the eighteen (18) schools are located in the heart of the inner city and so the children come to us with the attendant problems. We have approximately 2,000 students with only three guidance counsellors. Against this back-ground, we have managed to add value to the lives and well-being of the students placed here.

Regarding the classification by Educate Jamaica of us non-performing in English and mathematics, we acknowledge that this is an area of major challenge. However, we have put measures in place to correct the situation.

poor gsat results

Interestingly, we must bear in mind that the students who are sent to Norman Manley High School and schools like ours, for the most part, average 50 per cent or less in the GSAT examination. Even with this challenge, we are assessed and expected to turn out students on par with their counterparts in the 'traditional high schools'. We are proud of the fact that we have added value to the students we get. On entry, some of them read below the grade 1 level and some cannot read at all. We have reading specialists who cater to these children.

It is only in the last two years that a great number of students are being placed at our school with averages in the high 60s and above. The challenge with this, however, is that many of these students are not taking up the places and seek transfers to 'traditional high schools'. So we work with those we get and still churn out passes.

Your headline has served to undermine and negate the work that both staff and students have done to hold our flag high.

We at this noble institution refuse to accept your headline which refers to our school as 'prison school'.

Adaire Powell-Brown

Principal, Norman Manley

High School

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