Classes resume as normal at Kingstown Prep School

Classes resumed as normal on Monday, January 9, at the Kingstown Preparatory School (KPS), following the school’s closure on Thursday, January 5, for health authorities to deal with what appeared to be a rat infestation.{{more}}

However, in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT yesterday, Acting Headteacher for the school Carol Ross declared that “it was not a rat infestation.”

SEARCHLIGHT was earlier informed that since the school opened for Term 2 on Tuesday, January 3, rats were seen running about the classrooms located on the ground floor of the building.

The Acting Headteacher, however, said that she was informed by one of the officers within the Vector Control Unit that the school did not have a rat infestation and she was in full agreement.

“Infestation is where you have rats until you don’t know what to do… and this would have meant that we would have seen rats everywhere we turned in the school.

“We didn’t have an infestation, because in some classes, there were no rats…,” said Ross.

At the time of the interview, Ross had just sent out a memorandum to the teachers.

The memo read, “We have gone past the unfortunate incident of last week. School has settled down to a good start today and thanks for participating in the process.”

It was further revealed

that since the closing of the school last Thursday, extensive cleaning was done on the ground floor of the building, which houses the Kindergarten to Grade 1, the areas where the rats were allegedly discovered.

Ross said the cleaning of the school compound was done by teachers of the school, with assistance coming from some of the imates of Her Majesty’s Prison.

“They started on Friday and ended about midday Saturday, but I never left here until late that evening, to ensure that everything was in order,” the Acting Headteacher said.

Meanwhile, some of the students at the school told SEARCHLIGHT that their school no longer has rats and their classrooms are clean and “smelling nice.”

“My class is clean and I feel good to be back at school again, one student told SEARCHLIGHT.

The incident had left some parents rather upset that the school had not been closed before efforts to rectify the situation began.

With the cleaning complete, one parent said he is now comfortable knowing that a general cleaning was done and health officials had stepped in to assist.

“This is what they should have done since they found out, because it was very disappointing to know that the school my child attends has rats; that not healthy,” he said.

“Sometimes we may blow things out of proportion because we don’t know the full facts, but sometimes it is because we, as parents, are concerned. Nevertheless the situation has been rectified and I’m glad the kids are back to school,” the parent said.

Putting the rat issue behind her, the Acting Headteacher said that this is a new year and a new term for the teachers and students of the KPS and they will continue to excel in the academic field as well as the other areas that the school has been successful in.

“This little issue of the rats coming into the school is not going to change anything at Prep School.

“We’ve cleaned the school and we have to make sure our children are healthy and the teachers are working in a good and healthy environment.

“It’s just unfortunate that this happened, but Prep School is still the same premier primary school,” Ross boasted. (AA)