New wall prevents total devastation – Walwyn

Minister of Education Myron Walwyn said his ministry has things totally under control at Elmore Stoutt High School, adding that a perimeter wall built recently has saved the institution from total devastation.

He defended the soundness of the new wall after photographs first posted on social media show that a section of the school’s perimeter wall was destroyed by flood waters associated with a tropical wave that battered the British Virgin Islands on August 7.

Walwyn, in an interview with BVI News Online, clarified that the section of the wall that collapsed has been in existence perhaps for decades. The collapsed wall merely adjoins the one that was built recently.

“The section of the wall that fell down is not the new wall. The entire new wall that we built is fully intact. The new wall was attached to that section that fell down,” he further explained.

“With the force at which the water was coming into the high school, if the new wall was not there, the high school would have been totally devastated.”

Walwyn further stated that an evaluation is underway to ascertain the true extent of the damage.

“Everything is under control by the ministry. We brought some professionals in yesterday to work along with all the other persons who saw the opportunity for some community service; and the work is going very very well.”

“The principal [Sandy Underhill] is collecting all the data in terms of all the losses, and so we are waiting for it so that we can replace the things that are needed in time for school to start. Things are totally under control,” added Walwyn.

He said he does not expect any delay regarding the reopening of school in September. “We expect school to start on schedule.”