Diamond Sec staff labours under COVID-19 pandemic

A SENIOR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR ADMITS COPING DIFFICULTIES TO
MANAGE HER GRADE ‘A’ INSTITUTION in the ongoing COVID-19 environment.
“I am not coping very well. the school door has been reopened and, as the Principal I cannot
close the school,” HM Lesmine Collins of Diamond Secondary School.
Nevertheless, while the entire staff struggles to grapple with expected and novel demands
generated by the infections and deadly pandemic, Collins said they are unanimous in their
determination to keep producing students with excellent grades from the annual Caribbean
Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council
(CXC).
The pact by the HM and staff of Diamond Sec, Collins explained, is their ongoing national
development contribution of molding the nation’s children.
She debunked assertions that educators at her institution are dealing reasonably with the
uncertainties presented by the deadly disease.
“It’s not really coping, it's what really has to be done because if school is open, I can’t close (it)
because I have no authority to do,” she reminded.
Diamond is a thriving housing and business community on the East Bank corridor. However, it
has been listed consistently among several hotspots for COVID-19 in the country. Collins said
the spread of the disease among Diamond residents has been devastating on her staff and school
population.
Despite her personal struggles to adjust, The HM said she is determined to continue exemplify
confident leadership to boost the morale of her staff and students.
This example follows students after graduation, Collins boasted.

“I would usually tell my students that Education is the way out of poverty… do your best
always. Sometimes (one of the commercial) Banks will take some of our students as trainees
and they will come here sometimes and ask, ‘Miss, what did you do to this child’”?