School chaos prevented

With schools set to open on September 5, Hezekiah Dean, the Ministry of Education's Grand Bahama District Superintendent, is to be commended for taking the initiative to avert what could have been absolute chaos when area students return to school next month.

Mr. Dean's quick response to a developing trend of students who are entering the government's high schools for the first time choosing St. Georges High over Jack Hayward High by a ratio of 2-to-1 certainly should assist in ensuring that there is not an egregious imbalance in the student population at these two Freeport high schools.

If Mr. Dean had not acted to address this growing problem, St. Georges would have ended up with more than 1,600 students, a situation which would have resulted in very serious overcrowding at that school, given the fact that it was built to accommodate only 1,200 students.

Jack Hayward High, on the other hand, which was also built to accommodate 1,200 students, would have had just around that amount, based on statistics compiled by Mr. Dean of the choice being made by sixth grade students entering the high school system in the seventh grade.

These students should actually be going into Junior High, but Grand Bahama does not have a junior high school, which accounts for the fact that all of the island's high schools are heavily overcrowded. That problem should be ameliorated with the construction of a junior high school that is scheduled to begin in October in the Heritage area, off Settler's Way, but until it is completed both St. Georges High and Jack Hayward High will continue to be heavily overcrowded.

At least now, the overcrowding will not be heavily lopsided at St. Georges. Mr. Dean has decided to enforce a school regulation that established boundary lines to determine the feeder areas for students entering high schools. For example, students entering grade seven who live in communities south and west of the designated boundary line are expected to attend St. Georges High, while students who live in communities north and east of the divider line are to enrol at Jack Hayward. Similar guidelines are established for students living in other areas who intend to attend either St. Georges or Jack Hayward.

Exactly why St. Georges is favoured so overwhelmingly over Jack Hayward is unclear, given the fact that both institutions have similar reputations in terms of providing quality education for students who want to learn and are not hell-bent on being troublemakers.

Because both also have their share of problems with school discipline, it could very well be that the no-nonsense approach of Jack Hayward High Principal Benjamin Stubbs in dealing with troublemakers may be one of the reasons why students so inclined may prefer going to St. Georges.

Be that as it may, when schools open next month, although overcrowding will still be a problem, the learning environment should be similar at St. Georges High and Jack Hayward High, thanks to District Superintendent Hezekiah Dean.

© 2005 The Freeport News