Tomorrow will make it 257 days that the doors of the Arbor/ Rosewood schools remain closed and this situation is negatively affecting more than 200 students.The parents are locked in battle on several fronts with the Diego Martin Regional Corporation's decision not to grant the necessary approval to the schools' board and taking the matter to the court arena, objections from the Lower Maraval Residents Association and residents of Champs Elys�es Road to the opening of the schools at the location, claiming it would cause massive traffic congestion in the area.
In the latest development of the corporation taking the schools' board, EDFAM, to the court and obtaining an injunction which prevented the schools from opening at the start of the new school term in September, last year, the AG's office has removed itself from the case, and the matter is still pending.
Several parents gathered to speak with the Sunday Guardian about the issues at the schools' Long Circular Road, Maraval, location. They were reluctant to give their full names because several of them claimed they had been verbally abused by some residents.One of their major concerns was to allay the fears of residents that the schools caused traffic in the Maraval environs. Hector, the spokesman for the parents, said there has been no noticeable change in traffic patterns, "we have the drone footage to substantiate that."
The Ministry of Planning, he said, has approved the use of the building "contingent on our operation of their traffic mitigation plan which we're willing to abide by."Part of the plan, Hector said, involves them not using the Champs Elys�es Road, inMaraval, which was the major contention of the residents."This has not been effectively conveyed or communicated to the residents because they are not aware of it."
He said there was also provision for a school car layby that can absorb 33 cars at a time. Hector said that the schools had also staggered drop off and collection times for the children.The schools had also been mandated to consider a shuttle service. The parents had even offered to bus kids in but this suggestion was denied by the director of highways.
Another parent, Gina, said a third of the students were temporarily located at the Church of the Assumption, opposite the schools. She said this confirmed traffic engineer Dr Ray Furlonge's findings that the schools' activities did not disrupt traffic in the area.Leonard, a parent of a Prep 1 pupil, concurred that there was no back up of traffic or near accidents caused by the schools. He said when parents picked up their children, they turned in the schools' compound and headed back West and they didn't contribute to the traffic further down at the Maraval roundabout.
Leonard said many students come from the West, a considerable amount come from within Maraval, and those from the East came to the schools from the western side of the schools bypassing the Maraval roundabout.Saskia, a parent who lives in Maraval, said there was no significant back up or traffic congestion caused by the schools. She said it would take her three to six minutes to go through Boissiere Village on a normal day.
Saskia said nobody wanted to be caught in traffic gridlock, if she encountered any, she would just go the other way.Helen, the mother of a Prep 2 pupil, said that school board members, parents and teachers were all under pressure.She said several parents with four and six children were hard pressed to send their children to different locations, driving all over town to their various temporary schools.
Helen said teachers' conditions at Arbor/Rosewood were not what they were supposed to be.She said that the school board was doing everything it could to keep the school body together, the parents united, hold events, communicate with parents, but everybody was facing a very difficult time and the situation was going on way too long.
Jeff said parents and teachers wanted the opportunity to prove to the residents that they intended to be their best neighbours. He said nobody wanted to be part of the problem, but to be part of the solution, and the parents and teachers wanted to prove it to the residents.Jeff said, however, Arbor/Rosewood had met the criteria requested of them, but there were other schools in the vicinity which did not and were granted approval by the authorities to operate.
The Diego Martin Regional Corporation remained adamant in their stance for unknown reasons, he said.He said that more recently, residents seemed to change their stance to say that the main contention was one of urban creep into their residential area.