The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

PINERIDGE Education Centre reopened its doors in the Kipling Building yesterday, with redesigned classrooms adhering to strict COVID-19 protocols and guidelines to provide a safe environment for learning.

Thirty-three students are registered at the centre in Grand Bahama. The two classrooms that are being utilised have been configured and redesigned with plexiglass petitions between each student and between students and teachers.

Pineridge MP Rev Frederick McAlpine, founder and operator, said the Pineridge constituency office is pleased to open after a very challenging school year last year due to Hurricane Dorian, and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

He explained that virtual learning is not ideal for everyone and that some students learn better in the face-to-face environment.

“We need to get back to school and so we redesigned the classrooms with plexiglass,” Rev McAlpine said. “Since we opened (in 2018) we graduated four; and we are very happy for this return.

“Last year was very difficult, we had Dorian and now COVID, and we have to now catch up,” he said.

The school can accommodate an enrollment of 50 students, but due to protocols the numbers were reduced. There are two four-hour class sessions from 8am - 1pm and from 1pm -5pm.

Rev McAlpine said we must learn to adapt and co-exist with COVID-19.

“You cannot allow your educational system and your economy to be held hostage by COVID-19; we will have to learn to co-exist with this until we can do better; we cannot stop people from getting their education, it sets us back academically and economically,” he said.

“We have a lot of catching up to do, especially if we are trying to move from (a) D average,” he stated.

Rev McAlpine said safety is a priority and noted that students are assigned to one computer at all times. He said there are eight spaces available and persons in the Pineridge constituency that are interested can contact the constituency office at 602-5187.

He noted that a large portion of his constituency allowance goes towards funding the centre.

He said the centre was cleared to commence classes. “The Minister of Education (Jeff Lloyd) made it clear that private schools that were able to go can go. So, we consider ourselves a private institution, but we are also connected to NAECOB and to MOE. This is not just a diploma programme to give you a piece of paper, it is a programme acknowledged by the Ministry of Education,” he said.

Principal Delores Kellman said they are utilising a programme published by Alpha Omega Publications, a Christian online high school programme in the US.

“We are using the curriculum for grades 9 through 12 called Ignitia.”

She noted that the programme is accredited and accepted by colleges and universities in the US and Canada, and other parts of the world.

Once completed, students receive a Bahamas national high school diploma.

When asked about safety procedures, Ms Kellman said when students come in, they must check-in at the office where a temperature reading is taken. They then sign an attendance register and go to their classrooms, where they must sanitise as they enter and wear a mask.

“I can’t wear a mask all day and many of them won’t be able to, and since we (have) plexiglass partitions and they all work independently on different subjects. And so, I told them they don’t have to keep masks on, but if they get up and wish to speak with someone, they must put it on,” she said.