Murder at Maryland RC

A small group of concerned parents of students of the Maryland RC Primary School staged a protest yesterday morning at the entrance of the Belmont school.

Parents carried placards with messages about the poor attendance of teachers and the principal, whom they claimed feared for their lives because of a “criminal presence” on the school compound.

The school has remained closed since the discovery of the body of security guard Claymont Brown in a guard booth on the school’s compound the morning of June 6.

Curtis Scott, one of the co-ordinators of yesterday’s protest, told Newsday the staff has been afraid to return to the school to conduct classes since the murder of Brown. He claimed a man had threatened a member of staff with a gun before Brown’s murder. Parents met with officials of the Ministry of Education at the Port-of-Spain and Environs Education District Office, on June 16, where they expressed their concerns about the lack of security at the school. They were told the school would remain closed but shuttles would have been provided from June 21 for students of Maryland to be transported to Excel Composite School in Laventille where they would continue classes on a shift system until further notice.

However, parents said students waited in vain that morning as the shuttle did not turn up.

Calls to the communications officer at the ministry, Sharon Balroop, to ask the reason why the shuttle was unavailable were unreturned.

Parents were also concerned that their children have not had any end of term exams. They believe their children will suffer, particularly those writing the SEA examinations next year, if the school remained closed. They are appealing to the ministry and the Catholic Education Board to re-open the school with the addition of extra security guards. Brown said protest action would be stepped up tomorrow if they did not receive any reply from ministry and the Catholic board by the end of today.