AFTER months of steering their schools through the devastation of Hurricane Melissa, principals from some of the hardest-hit institutions were on Tuesday grateful to be recognised for their selfless leadership, each receiving a $50,000 personal grant in acknowledgement of their unwavering commitment to school communities. The grant, designed to support the school heads personally after years of putting their institutions first, was given to nine principals across parishes still bouncing back from last October’s Category 5 storm. The school leaders were awarded with prepaid cards from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC Caribbean) in partnership with the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), recognising their dedication and resilience in leading school recovery efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Beryl in 2024, and Melissa.
Principal of Green Pond High School Oraine Ebanks was frank as he delivered his speech during the handover ceremony of the prepaid cards at the CIBC Caribbean headquarters in New Kingston, arguing that the sacrifices and struggles endured by those who sit at the helm of an organisation often goes unnoticed. He recalled that when the St James school was left with severe structural damage, and his students and staff were dealing with trauma and loss, he too was under immense stress. Schools being mandated by the Ministry of Education to reopen mere months after the catastrophic storm did not help his plight.
Ebanks shared that the staff meeting that followed the Government’s call to reopen institutions was one of the hardest moments of his career. “When we were ready to return to school, we had a staff meeting, and it was the roughest staff meeting of my life. [Comments included] ‘Sir, you know the ministry is pushing that and our staff members have lost their roof and children are displaced’, and so on.
‘Sir, you are just pushing this because you want to look good’. [But] you know, the truth is I remain humble. Because I understand what they are going through,” he said.
“My father had me going back and forth from Clarendon, because that’s where I’m from. My mom is blind, and the whole thing, they did not remember that the leader is going through some things too. But you are not called to find excuses.
You have to stand up as a leader,” said Ebanks. He told the ceremony that he was grateful that his man…
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