News

C'Bar boys run wild

A SPATE OF violent and illegal incidents involving students of Calabar High School has forced the police to come to the rescue of the all-boys school on Red Hills Road, St. Andrew.

The Constant Spring police are planning to put the school on a Safe School Programme because many of the school's students "feature conduct disorder".

Calabar, a name that was once uttered with pride and which boasts past students like Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, radio talk-show host Wilmot Perkins, and legendary track icon Herb McKenley, now evokes images of drug use and violent behaviour.

Just yesterday two students were taken into custody by the Constant Spring police. One was accused of marijuana possession, the other accused of stealing lunches from his fellow students.

Last week, two students of Calabar were stabbed by schoolmates. The mother of one of the students who was stabbed told THE WEEKEND STAR that she is removing her son from the school because she does not like the way the administration is dealing with the incident. "What is upsetting everybody was the way the school dealt with it," the boy's mother said. "They act as if it was no big deal."

Jennifer Gordon, vice principal of the upper school at Calabar, declined to comment on the matter. She said she has received specific instructions from Principal Lincoln Thaxter that no one but him should speak with the media.

However, vice principal of the lower school Audrey Frater said she was unaware that the stabbing was not reported to the police. Why it was not, she was unable to say.

These stabbing incidents though, are just the tip of the iceberg as far as the police are concerned when it comes to student discipline at Calabar. According to police sources, some students are running an extortion racket. Frater said she was unable to confirm or deny this.

Constable Carron Taylor of the Constant Spring police, who is in direct dialogue with the school confirmed that there are serious problems at the school. Incidents that have been confirmed include the stabbing last year of a security guard who had identified a student who was involved in a fight. The guard was reportedly stabbed by students who branded him an informer.

Other confirmed incidents include a teacher being doused with urine, a teacher being sexually assaulted, drugs and weapons being found in a bushy enclave on the school grounds, and imitation firearms being seized from students. Students were also discovered in an empty apartment at a nearby complex smoking marijuana and gambling.

Police only got wind of some of these these incidents because they were told by parents of the children involved and not from the school's administration even though the alleged offences were committed on the compound. Constable Taylor explained that the reason why some of these reports are not made to the police lies with the fact that some teachers do not know what to report.

Constable Taylor said for the issues at the school to be effectively dealt with requires the forging of a partnership between the parents, the community and the school's administration. He said members of the community were the ones who informed the police that the boys were using the empty apartment to smoke weed and gamble. He said that such an effort was necessary if the students are to be rescued. "If we want to look at tomorrow, we need to see what out students are today," he said.

Unavailable

THE WEEKEND STAR visited Calabar in an attempt to speak with the principal and was told that he was out at a meeting. The visit was followed by phone calls to his office. On each occasion, he was said to be out at a meeting. Chairman of the School Board Reverend Karl Johnson was also unavailable. Several phone calls were made to his office. THE WEEKEND STAR was told on each occasion that he was in a meeting.

Broker settlement

Meantime, the parents and guardians of the two students involved in the stabbing incident last week, have met with the police and are attempting to broker a settlement. Still, the situation has left a bitter taste in the mouth of the mother of the boy who was stabbed and as far as she is concerned forever tainted her view of Calabar High. "I always hear that Calabar was a top boys' school and a lot of top notch people go there. So you love your child you want him to go to a good school," she said was the reason her son went to Calabar. "Now you find out that Calabar is nasty, dirty. It's nothing."