Reprinted from Nationwide News
Principal of Kingston College, Dave Myrie, is adamant that no student was locked out of the school this week.
This in relation to an incident where some students were deemed improperly groomed.
In a note to stakeholders of the institution, Myrie says the students were asked to correct what he calls infractions relating mostly to their hairstyles, before returning to classes.
He says this week’s incident followed multiple warnings to the students about breaching the schools policy on grooming and hairstyles.
Myrie says several of those who refused to comply are those who’ve been found to commit other offences at KC.
In reacting to the incident at Kingston College this week, Education Minister Fayval Williams says there should be sanctions for school administrators who continue to bar students from classes in clear breach of the Ministry’s policy.
But in his note to the Kingston College Old Boys Association, the KC Principal says none of the students were locked out, they were asked to ‘get their grooming sorted out and return to classes’.
He describes as a battle, administrators’ interaction with the students since September, following a two year hiatus from physical classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Myrie says that battle is mainly focused on academics.
But he says significant time has been spent dealing with the issue of deportment and overall grooming.
He says discussions and reminders to students about the grooming rules, have become even more frequent.
He says the school has also written to parents about the issue.
The KC Principal says at the start of the week he notified several boys they were inappropriately dressed and groomed, and advised them to make adjustments immediately.
The students were warned of a clamp down on the practices which are in breach of the school rules.
On Tuesday, the boys who had failed to make adjustments were taken to the administration area of the school and asked to do so before returning to school.
He says many of them made efforts to do the corrections, even benefiting from the barbering services of the school’s Guidance Counsellor.
He says the media were called and arrived with what he calls the usual fanfare.
But Myrie says administrators also had a frank discussion with the students who refused to make any adjustments to their grooming.
He says in the hour long discussion, students were allowed to expressed their thoughts about the school’s rules.
He says all boys were reviewed and sent back to their classes on the basis that they agreed to sort out their grooming by the following day.
He says by the end of the school day one of those same boys was brought to his office following accusations he was involved in a cell phone stealing ring.
Myrie says 95 per cent of the boys rapped from breaching the school’s grooming policy, are repeat offenders.
The principal describes them as ‘the boys seeking to change the school’.