Dissatisfied with the pace of the police investigation into recent threats made to the student body of the School of the Nations on Facebook, parents are offering a $1 million reward for any information that may lead to the arrest of the perpetrator/s.
The offer was revealed in a joint letter issued by parents, some of whom gathered in front of the Ministry of Public Security on Brickdam yesterday for a peaceful protest to voice their concern about the situation.
The purpose of the protest, the parents said, was to fast-track the ongoing investigation into the recent threats, which they described as “terrorist activities.”
“We the parents of students of School of the Nations are deeply concerned about the state of affairs that has plagued our country’s schools since January 24, 2019. It is the right of the child to receive a quality education and as parents we are duty bound to fulfill that right. As such, we would like for the schools to return to a state of normalcy in the shortest possible time,” the letter said.
It added that the parents not only noted the seriousness of the threat but also the intention of the perpetrator/s since the school’s principal, Dr Brian O’Toole, was already seriously injured. (Police have not publicly linked the attack on O’Toole to the threats against the school’s students.)
They said while they are aware via media reports that a former student was deemed as a person of interest in the matter, there is no clear indication whether he has been assisting the police in solving the case.
As a result, the parents said they have collectively made a decision to offer a sum of $1 million as a reward to any person/s who may have credible information leading to the detention of the perpetrator/s.
The parents added that while they are in support of the Guyana Police Force, the Ministry of Education and the staff of School of the Nations in their efforts and make schools safe again, they will be convinced that all schools are safe again for their children when the criminals are caught.
Stabroek News was told that persons with information could contact the police.
Concerns over the threats intensified after O’Toole was shot in an attack at his home on January 26th.
The shooting occurred hours after he had called a meeting to address the threat that had surfaced the day before.
The threat to students was made via Facebook and police and cybersecurity experts have been trying to locate the individual responsible.
‘Unacceptable’
Head of the School of the Nations Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Ann Lisa Fraser-Phang, who was among the few parents who participated in the peaceful protest, said while the police are doing their job, parents also ought to take full responsibility for their children. “While we also recognised that there is only so much the police can do, it is not their job, it’s not the teachers’ job, to do everything. As parents, we have a responsibility as well and that is something parents need to take seriously. We need to check on our children. We need to make them a priority… feel free to check their phones and see what they are up to. Be aware of who their friends are and see what their friends are up to. And, sometimes, as parents we have to say, ‘Sorry, delete that person. Sorry you would not be interacting with that person.’ And not be afraid. We need to take the responsibility of parents to be parents of our children and not let them do what they want, how they want. We need to treat them with respect and dignity and expect them to do the exact same thing because what is happening now is unacceptable,” Fraser-Phang declared.
Fraser-Phang related that following a meeting at the school last Friday, she and other members of the PTA met with Crime Chief Lyndon Alves.
“The PTA has actually spoken to the Assistant Commissioner [Alves]. We have asked and pleaded with him to make a statement since Friday night and we were chastised, told that we have no right to tell them [the police] what to do while we were just suggesting what they need to do to appease not only to the parents of the children of School of the Nations but to the general public,” she said.
“We demand more of our authorities. We are not second rate citizens. Our children are not second rate citizens. We should all be treated with the same urgency. I understand that the Commissioner or assistant or whomever did go down to Bishops’ [High] and to [Queen’s College]. What happen to our school? Our school has been under threat for over a week now and no one from the authorities has [anything] to say. That is wrong. Unacceptable,” she noted.
Threats were also made to students of the two other schools.
According to Fraser-Phang, notwithstanding the efforts by the police to check the school on Monday to ensure it was safe to resume classes, more needs to be done. “You need to speak to the people of the nation and let us know what is happening. You need to be able to get a message out to the youth, not just ours and through us, but the entire country, to say this is unacceptable behaviour and this is the repercussions of unacceptable behaviour,” she added.
Alves had previously told this newspaper in an invited comment that the investigation remains active and diligent efforts were being made to track the person’s responsible for the posts containing the threats.
When contacted for an update yesterday, Alves confirmed to Stabroek News that he did meet with school’s PTA officials and assured that police’s commitment to ensuring safety at all schools. However, he said the investigation is an “extremely sensitive” one, which remains active. “Well, we can only give them information as we can divulge based on our investigation,” he added, while noting that so far about four persons were arrested and subsequently released.
‘Really and truly a safe place’
At a meeting last Friday, parents were brought up to date with the developments and changes that they will see at the school in the coming weeks as the administration seeks to address their security concerns.
They were told that new measures include checks on the bags of senior students and two different entrances will be utilised during peak hours. In addition, parents were informed that the school had adopted ‘ALICE,’ an active shooter response plan.
Subsequent to the shooting of O’Toole, school was closed and after a second meeting where parents expressed their fears over security, classes were cancelled last week.
On Monday, the privately-run school resumed classes but only for students preparing for examinations. The remainder of the school population is expect to return to classes today.
“We need to make sure that the security system that the school has put into place runs smoothly before we have all students coming in because we have over 1,000 students at School of the Nations. They are working well,” Fraser-Phang noted.
Another parent, Jerry Gouveia, said that since the threats, the school population has not been the same.
“…School has not been the same since and it’s not only at our school. It’s all over. And persons are at a loss really as to what to do. I mean an education is a basic right for a child and we cannot fulfill that right now because of security, we are fearful for that. So we would just like to have the authorities give us some answers. Tell us you know it’s safe to send your children back to school because we have A, B, C in custody. We have questioned X, Y, Z. We need to know something. We need to know that it’s really and truly a safe place again that we can call school,” he said.
“I think, as professionals, they need to say as much as they need to say to keep the children in a state of mind where they can feel safe to go to school. That’s up to the police. What we are here to do is to say that we need someone to tell our children that they are being looked after,” Gouveia added.
Fraser-Phang also highlighted that to date, they have not received any official word from the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Social Protection. She said while there was a meeting with the Ministry of Education, “It was a meeting just for the School of the Nations to tell us nothing other than they will do whatever they can. But when Monday roll around and we were expecting and told that we would have the mobile and the counsellors available to our children at the School of the Nations, we have not seen any there. They were extended to other schools and I am not belittling any other school, they need it just as much, but we were offered very little and given even less,” she explained.
