LINSTEAD: School denies mother’s claims, says education officer
April 12, 2019Education Officer Christopher Reynolds, who is in charge of his ministry’s Region 6, said Linstead Primary School in St Catherine is refuting claims made by a disgruntled mother, whose 10-year-old daughter was among students who went on a school trip to Jamaica Zoo in St Elizabeth on April 10.
The mother, in a video posted on social media, claimed that, after the trip, the school did not take the students back to Linstead at the 5PM time it had promised.
She said the children apparently returned some five hours later – about 10PM, reportedly as a result of mechanical problems, which affected one of the two buses that transported the students to St Elizabeth.
The mother, whose real name The Beacon is still trying to verify, claimed that persons in charge of the trip apparently left her daughter alone in the treacherous town of Linstead about 10PM.
She claimed that the child then took a taxi, which dropped her off in an area outside the town – near Linstead Fire Station.
The mother further stated that her daughter – afraid of the darkness of her volatile community, asked a strange man to accompany her home.
She asserted that the behaviour of the school placed her child’s life in danger.
The Beacon, in the meantime, has made several calls to Linstead Primary School between yesterday and today, April 12. However, on each occasion, we were told that the principal, Gloria Johnson, was either in a meeting or was not available.
When our news team contacted Reynolds – the education officer, he admitted to discussing the controversial matter with the principal yesterday.
He however declined to disclose details of the school’s story, adding that he will not do so until he speaks with the student’s mother next week.
“I don’t want to divulge that until Monday. I haven’t spoken with the mother yet, and I don’t want to say anything until I speak with her…” Reynolds said, adding: “Every story has three sides – the mother’s side, the school’s side, and the truth.”
Although Reynolds, who is pictured above, did not give details, he said Linstead Primary has denied the allegations, which the mother made in the video.
“Based on my own initial investigations with the school, I am learning that the contents of the video that has gone viral are not true,” Reynolds continued. “That would have been sad if it is that the school would have been in touch [with the mother], and the mother is saying some of the things that she is saying.”
By Horace Mills, Journalist
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