Camalote Villagers Want Pre-School to be Named after One of their Own!
From a land issue to a school issue – Chairman Derrick Parham says that the villagers are not happy about the name the Ministry of Education has given to a government preschool that is being built in the village. Parham says that the villagers would like to see someone from the community be given that honour and that villagers can take pride and ownership in the preschool. Parham points out that although the village has many qualified persons to choose from, the ministry has named the school after Betty Pott – a name he says that no one knows or that has any relation to their village. He explains that they are circulating a petition that will be forwarded to the ministry.
Derrick Parham, Chairman, Camalote
“The other situation that the villagers were pointing out that they are more upset about is the naming of the new government pre-school. The intention of the Ministry of Education is to name it Betty Brown Pott – if I am not mistaking the name. The villagers have no clue at this point who Betty Brown Pott is and what contributions as I stated in a letter that we are going to walk around and try to get some names and petition over to the Ministry of Education. One position is that they don’t know who Betty Brown Pott is and what contribution she made to the village when it comes to education. Two, Camalote has a lot of people who have contributed to education on a whole and three the village should at least be consulted so that we sit at the table and have a correct name given. We don’t want this to be like a slap in the face so that things just get pushed on the villagers – at least consult with us so that we can have a proper name for the people that deserve to be put on that pre-school.”
Derrick Parham
Andrea Polanco
“From what villagers have expressed to you, who are some of the persons that they think whose name should go on that building?”
Derrick Parham
“Having a feel on the ground – one is Ms Myrtle Banner who has been a principal for St. Jude R.C for many, many years. A very humble lady. A very respectable person in the community. So, that was one of the number one names. We have Grace Banner who was highly involved in softball, the sport of softball and also Ms. Virginia Neal – a list of lot of names that was tabled and I guess one of those persons could at least be recognized in the community. I mean, it is a new building, it is a state of the art building, at least have one of those persons who contributed to education be put on that building.”
