A concerned parent, Laina Adams, has 3 children who attend 3 different schools in the Goulds. She along with many other parents is upset after numerous attempts to address many issues with school changes this year and now she plans to do something about it... an island wide school walk out.
She says that while it seems everyone has a unique situation of how the changes affect them, for her it is mostly about the opening time.
The elementary school now opens earlier in the mornings and she says this impacts children's safety. Daylight savings time is fast approaching and children will be forced to walk to the school or bus in the dark. Side streets are usually never plowed before school opening so this creates an even bigger fear.
Adams says that she has been involved in discussions and have seen many Facebook postings of parents & teachers which indicate other major problems such as bussing overcrowded to the point children are falling out of their seats, teachers and students overwhelmed with classrooms holding up to 34 students, kindergarten students being extremely overwhelmed by the full day kindergarten, lack of resources and supplies for teaching, cut out of courtesy bussing even if you are living just feet away from the 1.6 km range, lack of resources and teaching staff for those students who need extra help, overall mass confusion in the bussing, teachers having to purchase classroom supplies out of their own money, dangerous school parking lots with extreme traffic since people have been removed from busses, parents needing to find childcare for their younger kids because their older kids used to watch them after school but now are in school much later, and children unable to attend their extra activities due to being in school so late.
She says that protests have been held, emails have been sent by many parents and usually with no responses.
On October 5th she is hoping that everyone across the Province will keep their children home from school. Also teachers and staff as well.