By Keile Campbell
Journal Staff Writer

Uriah McPhee Primary School was expected to reopen on Thursday for the new school year
after reopening was postponed because of issues with air conditioning and environmental
sanitation, according to Acting Director of Education Dominique McCartney-Russell.
“It is expected, I haven’t gotten an update yet, but it is expected that school will open for
Uriah tomorrow [Thursday]. Staggered, of course because we want to orient the children and
particularly the newer ones into the environment. So, hopefully by tomorrow we will have
those issues addressed,” Director McCartney-Russell said during an interview.
“Well, what we were told by the contractor is that some of the issues that we thought were
dealt with, were not dealt with. They discovered some other things, and so that meant that
they had to do some work in the preschool area, but they also discovered that one of the A/C
units was not working.
“The A/C unit was actually on order, one of the contractors said. But while the structural
contractor was working, whatever he did, it was a lot of dust. It created some issues in terms
of the cleanliness of the environment, and then of course, as a result of the A/C not working,
it was also very hot. And so, they would’ve used the two days to clean and then he’s
mitigating the issues with the A/C unit.”
It was reported that as dispute between teachers at Uriah McPhee and Deputy Director of
Education Janice Moss concerning the school not being prepared for reopening, according to
Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson, teachers, she said, were
against Ms. Moss’ suggestion of staggered learning where students come in batches.
She added that the deputy director of education should not interfere with what the
administration and teachers had planned to do.
A statement from the Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training issued an
apology to parents, students and teachers for being unable to accommodate students.
Most school throughout The Bahamas reopened earlier this week.