THOUSANDS of public school students in Grand Bahama returned to the classroom on Tuesday for the first time in nearly three weeks following the passage of Hurricane Matthew.

All of the government institutions on the island had some damage during the storm.

All schools reopened Tuesday, except the Walter Parker Primary School, which reopened Wednesday. The Bartlett Hill Primary School in Eight Mile Rock was so severely damaged that the school was relocated to the Bethel’s Deliverance Centre.

Jean Walker, principal at Bartlett Hill Primary, commended Rev. Lloyd Rolle for having agreed to accommodate the relocation of the school and its 291 students.

She said that Bartlett Primary sustained severe damage.

“There was a lot of caving in (of the roof) and a lot of water damage, and so we could no longer use the facility as a school,” she said.

“We are pleased that the administration from Bethel Deliverance Centre had opened their centre to us so that we would be able to move the entire school there.”

She said students will continue to attend school at the centre for the school year. The hall has been transformed into 13 classrooms, library, staff room and office area.

“It was the right thing to open our doors to the school,” said Rev. Rolle. “It is a community effort and it takes a village to raise a child because we know how important education is.”

In the Freeport area, The Tribune visited the Freeport Primary School where Principal T F Ritchie reported that the students were happy to be back in school.

“The first day back went well (Tuesday), despite some of the challenges that the students would have experienced,” he said. “We had an assembly where we spoke to them about being able to overcome the challenges they met through the hurricane.”

“And we offered the assistance of teachers and guidance counselors for them to speak to if they needed that opportunity.”

The school has an enrolment of 542 students. Mr. Ritchie said most of them returned in good spirits.

“I was very impressed with the children and how they came to school all jubilant; they missed their friends and so a lot are happy to be back and a lot of parents are happy to send them to school,” he said.

Mr. Ritchie said that the school had minor damage.

“We did not suffer any major damage in the classrooms and it is just a matter of repairing of some of the shingles on the roof. All in all, it was a great start and everyone seems to be happy to be back, and the teachers were on point and had prepared themselves for the return of students,” he said.

St. George’s High School Principal Keith Barr reported that more than half of the 800 students turned out for the reopening of school post Matthew.

“The first day of school was fine. We expected students would come in but we did not expect the numbers would be high,” he said.

He said that many of his students come from some of areas that were hardest hit by the storm.

“A lot of our kids come from the Mac Town, Hunters, Lewis Yard, and Pinder’s Point areas. They received a lot of damage and so we know those areas are still without power, but also that there was substantial damage to their homes and that there were some relocation going on with families - we did not expect the numbers, but it was good.”

Principal Barr said officials decided to provide hot breakfast for the students on their first day back and will continue to do so for the rest of the week.

He reported that there is no power yet at the school, but there is running water. He also noted that six of the classrooms sustained significant damage and cannot be used.

“Those rooms we won’t use right now because there is substantial water damage as well as physical damage. We had some windows totally blown out - the whole frame came out, and we had some rooms where there was substantial water that came through the ceiling,” said Mr. Barr.

He said they have a rotation system for the rooms and will utilise the science labs for regular classrooms to accommodate students.

“I had a briefing with teachers letting them know we don’t have any light or any power, but the water pressure is good and we will run for the rest of the day until 3pm. The weather is also cool now and so they could open the windows,” he added.

“We have just around 800 kids and I think about 500 or 600 are here today, and the number of kids with uniform is impressive, but there are some who were affected and not wearing uniform.”

Mr. Barr urged students to remain focused despite what they have gone through.

He said he wishes he could get an idea on the timeframe for when power would be restored to the school.

By Denise Maycock, Tribune Freeport Reporter

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