UPDATE: Commissioner replies to de Castro’s ASPS concerns;
Commissioner Morris in his letter dated November 1, 2012 said that he had referred Mr de Castro’s letter to Chief Inspector Paula Alleyne who is responsible for policing within Road Town, to liaise with the Principal of the school to establish whether it was a policing issue and if so what could be done to alleviate the problems that arose.
Mr de Castro has now asked who is responsible for the matter given the indication that the police didn't seem to have clear jurisdiction. He also said that should an incident occur at the school as a result of the issue then the Police would be the first persons called in.
Mr de Castro, in a letter penned previously on October 24, 2012 and addressed to Inspector Ariel Cameron of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), described the indiscriminate habit of persons that he noted would “one day lead to serious property damage, grievous bodily harm or even death if some serious action is not taken immediately” by the RVIPF.
The persons in violation, Mr de Castro explained, “enter the school grounds through the gate that says exit and exit through the gate that says enter” at a school with a population of over 500 children under the age of 12. He describes the behaviour as total disrespectful to the “Principal, Staff, Parents and the other students of the Althea Scatliffe Primary School”.
He expressed this time around that the Principal had spoken at length about the issue and couldn’t hire security for the school to patrol the gateways.
See original story posted on the subject:
Donald E. de Castro laments tragedy waiting to happen
One parent has lashed out at what he views as inaction towards a tragedy waiting to happen at the Althea Scatliffe Primary School.
Outspoken member of society, Donald E. deCastro has penned a letter that he hopes will address the problem of persons using the school’s entrance and exit in a very "callous" manner.
Mr de Castro, in the letter penned on October 24, 2012 and addressed to Inspector Ariel Cameron of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), describes the indiscriminate habit of persons that he noted would “one day lead to serious property damage, grievous bodily harm or even death if some serious action is not taken immediately” by the RVIPF. The letter was also copied to the Superintendant of Police, Acting Commissioner of Police, the Principal of the school, Minister for Education and Minister for Communications and Works.
The persons in violation, Mr de Castro explained, “enter the school grounds through the gate that says exit and exit through the gate that says enter” at a school with a population of over 500 children under the age of 12. He described the behaviour as total disrespect to the “Principal, Staff, Parents and the other students of the Althea Scatliffe Primary School”.
When contacted by this news site, Principal of the School, Mrs Marietta Flax-Headley said Mr deCastro has a daughter who attends the school and that he has brought the concerns to [her] before and now feels the need to take it further. As a parent, she suggested, it is his right to do this and was happy to see a parent showing their concern for the safety of the students at the school.
Mr de Castro noted that he had raised concerns both at PTA meetings as well as with individual parents about the behaviour of entering and exiting through the opposite gates at the school and persons seemed to believe it was a non-issue. He then vowed to make it an issue.
“If one of these parents hits and injures or kills one of these children the first thing they will [do is apologise],” the outspoken community member said. He assured that no one would be satisfied with such a response adding that he was aware that there are some very "dumb" traffic regulations in the Virgin Islands pertaining to signs. He did not go into details about what these regulations were but noted that the offending person will “find a bright lawyer that will quote the traffic laws that say a sign must be a certain size, a certain colour and a certain height from the ground and in which case the judge will have no choice but to dismiss the charges.
Principal Flax-Headley noted that parents weren't the only offenders, but there were others who sought to perpetuate the practice as a means of taking a shortcut to avoid the heavy rush hour traffic in the morning and afternoon around the school area.
Mr de Castro bemoaned what, according to him, was a reality where “only the Minister/Ministry of Communication and Works can determine, if, when and where traffic signs should go and the police, who are responsible for the control and regulating of traffic in this territory, have no say in such an important issue.”
One solution he offered was sending plain clothes officers and not uniformed officers at the school in the morning and afternoon to patrol the area. Others, he said, may suggest that the offenders be ticketed but he doubted that persons who do not care about children will concern themselves with a few hundred dollars’ fine.
Virgin Islands News Online has noted a regular presence of an auxiliary officer at the pedestrian crossing in front of the school but is not certain how effective that has been in dealing with the issue that Mr deCastro has raised.
23 Responses to “UPDATE: Commissioner replies to de Castro’s ASPS concerns;”
Since the parents of ASPS feel its a non issue then why don't we all drive up main street the wrong way then!