First Junior High School Should Be Built In EE/LL
Opposition Leader and Eighth District Representative Hon. Marlon Penn is advocating for the first junior high school to be built in the East End / Long Look area, as opposed to the Carrot Bay community.
Presently, the hurricane-ravaged, Isabella Morris Primary in Carrot Bay is being demolished to make way for a new junior high school further inland.
“I think the numbers hold that out because the East End school has the larger population. Between Francis Lettsome and Willard Wheatley, we have over 400 students and Joyce Samuels, you are talking about almost 500 students, and the high school population is just over 1,000,” he told BVI Platinum News in an invited comment.
He continued: “It would make sense to build the first school in the East End area, and all the research has proven that the numbers are in the East End part of the island, and you would get a better outcome because they have a larger amount of students.”
Hon. Penn went on to state, “You can see where there is a real need in having a facility in the East End/Long Look community. At the end of the day, I mean, it just makes sense; look at the numbers in the high school in town a large portion of those numbers are coming from that area.”
He also made it clear that he is not against a junior high school for the West, but the facility should be built for the East first.
Notably, Minister for Education Dr. Natalio ‘Sowande’ Wheatley said there are plans to build a high school on the Eastern end of the island; however, the challenge is finding the location.
In the meantime, he said a junior high school to replace the Isabella Morris Primary is the priority at this time.
“I think the numbers hold that out because the East End school has the larger population. Between Francis Lettsome and Willard Wheatley, we have over 400 students and Joyce Samuels, you are talking about almost 500 students, and the high school population is just over 1,000,” he told BVI Platinum News in an invited comment.
He continued: “It would make sense to build the first school in the East End area, and all the research has proven that the numbers are in the East End part of the island, and you would get a better outcome because they have a larger amount of students.”
Hon. Penn went on to state, “You can see where there is a real need in having a facility in the East End/Long Look community. At the end of the day, I mean, it just makes sense; look at the numbers in the high school in town a large portion of those numbers are coming from that area.”
He also made it clear that he is not against a junior high school for the West, but the facility should be built for the East first.
Notably, Minister for Education Dr. Natalio ‘Sowande’ Wheatley said there are plans to build a high school on the Eastern end of the island; however, the challenge is finding the location.
In the meantime, he said a junior high school to replace the Isabella Morris Primary is the priority at this time.
