Alma Parris Memorial Secondary School for Students with Disabilities Prepares to Reopen, Education Minister Announces

The Alma Parris Memorial Secondary School will soon reopen its doors to serve the needs of students with disabilities, Minister of Education Kay McConney has revealed, although she has not given a date for the resumption of operations.

The specialised institution for students with special needs was closed in 2017 because of a decline in the student roll. However, the education minister said preparations, including getting the plant ready for reopening and choosing the teachers and management, are at an advanced stage.

“We’ve already selected the students who will be part of this first cohort; completed their diagnostic tests,” McConney disclosed in her contribution to the debate on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.

Teachers for the school’s new chapter have also been identified.

“The board of the school has already been selected and they have received their instruments and, indeed, the school itself is being prepared,” the education minister added.

“We are working with manufacturers to ensure that the students’ uniforms are ready. When I say that the school is about to reopen, we have put much of the preparatory work in place. I promised the unions that we would make the announcement together as to what date we will reopen, and I will keep that promise to them.”

The Alma Parris School opened in 1995 and operated for 22 years before its closure.

The education minister said the facility is needed now to accommodate students who need special attention.

“Our statistics have told us that over the last several years, there has been an increase in the number of students who are presenting with special needs, and, therefore, we need to expand our capacity, expand our spaces,” she explained.

“And while our inclusive approach to education says indeed that we wish to the extent possible to integrate all students with special needs into the mainstream schools, we also recognise that there are some students that even if it is for a short time, might need to be pulled out of the mainstream, and treated to specially to suit their needs, with a view towards reintegrating them at some point in time, or at least providing an alternative path to education that will allow them to get the kind of outcomes that they’re seeking.”

McConney also outlined several other initiatives, including revising the Education Act and developing an inclusive education policy. She explained that disability advocates who have been a part of the conversation that contributed to the legislation and policy have been in constant conversation with the Ministry of Education.