Construction works are being done to facilitate the return of senior students for the upcoming 2022/2023 academic year.

Ground was broken after contracts were signed for demolition and site clearance services as well as design consultancy services for the educational facility.

Two contracts were signed today. Sandwise Limited signed a $136,079.50 agreement to provide the demolition and site clearance works while Trojan Design and Development Limited signed a $99,480 contract for the design consultancy.

Education Minister Dr Natalio Wheatley said it was a monumental and joyous occasion for him and the school. Wheatley noted he has been quite frustrated by the bureaucratic process that required the approval for work to commence on the site but nonetheless rebuilding the school after the destruction of hurricanes Irma and Maria was always his top priority.

“This ceremony is evidence that we are making progress towards our goals of recovery in the education system. This breaking ground ceremony is more than ‘breaking ground’. It is breaking chains … breaking the chains of Irma and Maria and the destruction they caused here in the Virgin Islands. Also, breaking through the recovery process,” the Education Minister said.

“Now we are about to build new buildings here to take our teachers and students out of the Clarence Thomas Limited (CTL) Building out a Pasea where we all must admit while of course the teachers and students needed space after the devastation of the hurricanes. Those are less than ideal conditions for our teachers and our students and our administrators to exist in,” Dr Wheatley added.

Working hard to repatriate senior students

Meanwhile, Premier Andrew Fahie said the government has been working hard to repatriate the senior students to the Lower Estate campus as the CTL building in Pasea Estate is not a conducive teaching and learning environment for students, teachers and administrators.

“We have come to this point in our efforts to rehabilitate and reconstruct the Elmore Stoutt High School through more than seven months of diligent work. Necessary work that has been taking place unseen in the background,” Fahie said.

“In September 2019, the government upgraded the facilities at the CTL Estate in Pasea Estate where our seniors were housed to make the environment more comfortable. Suffice to say, there’s really so much you can do to a building that was not designed to house a school. We knew the ultimate solution was that we simply had to get our children and teachers to the ESHS campus where they belong,” he added.

Representatives from both companies that won the contracts for the Demolition and Site Clearance and Design Consultancy both expressed their joy and appreciation to undertake a task that will directly benefit students and the wider Virgin Islands.

“It may seem as if we have a simple task but we are taking up the foundation and we all know the importance of foundations. So, I can assure you all Sandwise is going to remove the old foundation, allowing the government to replace it with a new foundation,” Kimberly Ritter, the Sandwise representative, said in a philosophical way.

Meanwhile, Ronnie Lettsome, the representative for Trojan Design and Development said it was an emotional moment for him as he is an ESHS alumnus
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“We are tasked with a huge responsibility and on behalf of Trojan Designs, we are going to try our utmost best to be on task, on time and on budget. We are going to put all emphasis in terms of all the experience we have, in terms of smart schooling into this project,” Lettsome said.

The redevelopment of the campus will be done in a phased approach according to Premier Fahie. The first phase is the demolition which will begin on December 10 and is expected to be completed by January 7. The second phase begins today December 2, which is the design consultancy and it is expected to be completed on January 14. There will be three new two-storey buildings constructed.

They will consist of 10 large classrooms for 25 students each, 25 small classrooms for 18 students each; eight student bathrooms as well as a staff bathroom, a principal’s office and an administrative office, and a staff lounge.