MARIGOT--President Daniel Gibbs received the members of the PEPSXM parents’ collective, at their request, on the issue of the progress of school repair work, at a meeting in the presence of Christian Climent-Pons in charge of reconstruction for the National Education and technicians from the Collectivité, on Tuesday, December 4, 2018.
This constructive exchange between the collective representatives and the Collectivité president provided an opportunity to review the situation of each facility undergoing renovation. With the urgent repair phase now completed, the Collectivité is now working on the rooms that were not operational, to free up new workspaces.
More substantial work will be undertaken during the summer holidays of 2019 and completed for the start of the school year in September. “I can’t make something new from the old, but the Collectivité is doing everything it can to make the facilities as welcoming as possible,” said Gibbs.
Apart from a few stumbling blocks that are being addressed in two schools, the primary schools are all in working order. Work remains to be done in the very small kindergarten section at Siméone Trott School, which should be operational by the end of January 2019.
The work at the Lycée in Marigot is well underway. Work is ongoing in the school restaurant and workshops. The gymnasium should be operational by the end of the Christmas holidays. Only the CDI and the multipurpose room will be ready for the start of the school year in September 2019.
Gibbs announced that the Quartier d’ Orléans Collège will be partially destroyed and rebuilt by the end of 2019. “The Collectivité wanted to make a special effort for this collège to improve learning conditions in this outlying area of the island,” he explained.
The work of Collège Mont des Accords is also in progress and will be completed in April 2019.
Cité Scolaire has been overcrowded since Irma because it hosts two collèges (including the Soualiga Collège destroyed by Irma) and a high school. The construction of six additional modular rooms will be definitively completed at the end of January 2019.
A total of 10 modular rooms will then be opened to accommodate collège and high school students. In response to school overcrowding, Climent-Pons said that schools would mix schedules to reduce gaps in students’ schedules to prevent them from being left in the yard or in front of the school.
Gibbs has heard the parents’ complaints and will consider the proposals. He undertook to continue these reparations with follow-up meetings with parents and partners.
