School administrators clamp down on loitering students

Principals and deans of discipline from various St James-based high schools carried out a major operation in Montego Bay on Thursday to address the issue of students loitering.

"We are here to take our students off the streets and get them into vehicles and off to schools, based on the fact that we have an issue with punctuality as it relates to our students and unnecessary loitering on the road," said Lavern Stewart, principal of Anchovy High School. Supporting principals are: Harry Hanson, Cambridge High School; Victor Newsome, Irwin High School; Joseph Williams, St James High School; Richard Hanson, Spot Valley High School; and Orane Ebanks, Green Pond High School. Stewart and the other officials converged on the Montego Bay Transport Centre where they saw a number of students loitering. When the students saw the administrators arriving, they immediately started to board buses for school. Newsome stated that the aim of the operation was to ensure that the students move from the space and get to school on time.

"But while there, we observed that there were some students who were in the incorrect bus park ... so it became suspicious as to why they were there. So we called them over and checked them," Newsome told THE WEEKEND STAR. He said the students' bags were also checked for contraband. Vince Young, who manages the transport centre, said that the operation was a very good initiative.

"Children are here in the mornings in numbers, lots of them, many of them waiting on special vehicles, special buses, for whatever reason I don't know," he stated. "During this period of the morning, without this operation by the teachers, you would see a number of children loitering, smoking, drinking alcohol I presume, using indecent language, hugging up, touching on each other inappropriately. So it's a good initiative and I believe they should continue to do this from time to time."

Many parents also joined in and commended the administrators, while requesting that they carry out similar operations weekly. A parent, who is also employed at the transport centre and who gave her name as Nancy, said that she was very overjoyed.

"Well mi glad fi that because a lot of students, their behaviour is very terrible. Them change when them ready, wi have to call the police," she said. "Them curse the most bad words, dem smoke weed, dem drink dem rum ... and change off inna b***y rider, an all kind of [clothes]. They are the worst students," Nancy stated.