The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

TWO Doris Johnson Senior High School students charged in connection with a viral campus brawl have been recommended for placement in Programme SURE, a decision their parents are opposing.

Sixteen-year-olds Kenaj Bain and Durell Farrington, both eleventh graders, were charged with fighting last month. Video of the incident showed a chaotic scene as a group of boys exchanged blows.

After pleading guilty, both were ordered to undergo conflict-resolution counselling and to complete community service. Bain was also suspended for two weeks, and both were told to return to school after serving the suspension.

However, when they returned, they were informed they would instead be placed in Programme SURE for six months.

The programme is designed to help students with behavioural challenges in a smaller, more targeted learning environment.

Their parents say the placement is inappropriate.

Bain’s mother, nurse Kelda Forbes, said her son acted in self-defence after being hit with a rock. Farrington’s mother, Anya Taylor, said her son was protecting Bain and was not involved in the fight.

“My son is not even a Programme SURE child,” she said. “If you check his record, he never got in problems in school. I just drop him to school and pick him up. I does be there before the bell even ring so he don’t even have time to be idle.”

Mrs Forbes said her son is not a problem student and is often praised by teachers. She also questioned how the placement would affect his graduation, as he is due to finish school next year.

“The programme is six months, which would be more than half of grade 12, so how is he really coming to complete grade 12,” she said. “He wants to be an orthopaedic doctor. Last year, he completed the Doctor's Hospital STEM programme when he was in for a year, and he was one of the top males in my class.”

Education Director Dominique McCartney-Russell said recommendations for Programme SURE are made by a Ministry of Education team, not the school. She said principals submit referrals with disciplinary reports, which are then reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

While she could not comment on the specific cases, she said three students involved in the fight were recommended for the programme.

Mrs Forbes believes her son’s placement was influenced by a strained relationship with a top school official.

She said issues began about two years ago after her son transferred from a school in the United States while coping with his father’s death.

She alleged that in 2024 her son was involved in an altercation with a security officer who struck him first, leaving him injured. She said the school sought to suspend him, but the matter was taken to the Ministry of Education. After a review, the officer was removed and an apology issued.

She said a separate incident later that year involved her son picking up a small bag with suspected drugs from the bleachers, which a female friend opened and consumed before becoming ill. Although tests found no drugs in his system, she said he was still suspended and accused of supplying drugs.

She said another incident occurred last March when a fight broke out. She said her son left the area and went to the office because he felt unsafe, but was later suspended for being out of class.

Mrs Forbes said her son was initially among the students arrested in connection with the latest fight and told he would be charged, but was later informed he was not involved.

Despite this, she said the school refused to allow him to return, forcing her to escalate the matter to the Ministry of Education.

“I had to fight to put him back in school for something he didn’t do,” she said.

She said her son has remained at home since the latest incident and has become increasingly depressed, losing weight and at times breaking down in tears.

She said other parents told her school officials had labelled him a drug dealer and a “bad seed.”

Mrs Forbes said she has been unable to secure a direct meeting with education officials.

Yesterday, Mrs McCartney-Russell said parents should first raise concerns with the principal and, if unresolved, escalate the matter to the district superintendent.

“We like to go up the chain because they are on the ground and they are more aware of what's going on so you always want to start from there,” she said.