School insists it was present at Kemeisha's funeral ... Said it sent one student and board chairman

Principal of Port Henderson Primary,  Sharon Byfield-Stewart, is refuting claims that the institution was not represented at the funeral for eight-year-old Kemeisha Butler on Sunday.

A few dozen mourners turned up at the thanksgiving service and there was no indication that representatives of Port Henderson Primary, the school Kemeisha attended and was a top student, had turned up. 

However, Byfield-Stewart told THE STAR yesterday that the school board's chairman and a student were in attendance.

That student, Veneisha Myers, performed a solo. 

Meanwhile, when quizzed about her absence, Byfield-Stewart said she did not attend "due to the postponements" and that she had other engagements. 

Kemeisha's funeral  was postponed on at least three previous occasions. 

Despite the explanation, Kemeisha’s parents said the school should have had better representation.

"A di prinicipal fi deh deh and teacher dem, school pickney fi ina uniform too. The girl weh go the school and sing is from the community, that is no excuse, she a nuh principal," Stephen Butler, Kemeisha’s father, told THE STAR.

Neisha Butler also expressed disbelief that the school was not present.

“Dem mek it look like she nuh bright, as if she nuh attend the school and dem malice her. The class teacher should have been there. Dem nuh send nobody from the school. There are teachers that live in the scheme weh coulda come and dem nuh come.”

Kemeisha died on March 9 at the Bustamante Hospital for Children. Her parents allege that her death resulted from punishment administered at school. 

Assistant Superintendent Coleridge Minto, Safety and Security Director at the Ministry of Education told the congregation at the funeral on Sunday that investigation into circumstances surrounding Kemeisha’s death was ongoing.