PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Melissa Gumbs, has responded to a statement issued by the Windward Islands Teachers’ Union (WITU) regarding classroom conditions at the Marie Genevieve de Weever Primary School (MGDW), stating that important facts about the matter were omitted from the union’s public narrative.
According to Gumbs, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (MECYS) welcomes constructive engagement on issues affecting the health, safety and wellbeing of teachers, staff and students. However, she said the Ministry has a responsibility to provide the full record when public statements leave out key information.
The issue stems from a planned staff sit-out at MGDW. On June 5, 2026, the Division of Public Education (DPE) received notification from the school manager that staff intended to stage a sit-out on June 8. On June 7, Gumbs received communication from the WITU President confirming the action and inviting her to attend a meeting with union members, school management and staff at 7:30am the following day.
Gumbs said that despite the short notice, she responded in writing on June 7, outlining the status of the November 2025 Stop Work Order, corrective measures that had been undertaken and the Ministry’s understanding of the concerns raised. She also urged WITU to advise its members not to proceed with any disruption to the school day and requested that the meeting be moved to 12:50pm, after classes ended, to avoid impacting students and parents.
The Ministry noted that WITU’s public statement did not mention the proposed sit-out, the short notice given to the Ministry, the Minister’s written response on June 7, or the request to address concerns without disrupting instruction.
During the June 8 meeting, the Ministry presented an overview of actions taken following a November 2025 inspection by the Public Health Inspectorate of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA). The inspection resulted in a Stop Work Order and Directive covering several classrooms at MGDW.
Gumbs said that the Public Health Inspectorate lifted the Stop Work Order on January 12, 2026. The order had applied to classrooms 103, 104, 109, 113, 114, 115, 116 and 117 following an inspection of the school conducted after the Minister requested VSA reviews of health conditions at several public schools.
“This does not mean that every structural or maintenance concern at MGDW had been resolved,” Gumbs clarified. “It means that the classrooms placed under the Stop Work Order were the areas identified by the Public Health Inspectorate as presenting the most critical health concerns at that time, and that those specific concerns were addressed to the satisfaction of the same authority that issued the order.”
The Minister rejected suggestions that teachers were not informed about developments related to the Stop Work Order. According to MECYS, updates were provided at the school level, affected classrooms were returned to use after the order was lifted and staff were repeatedly asked to submit any remaining concerns in writing. The Ministry also noted that during Gumbs’ April visit to MGDW, the only issue raised directly with her was the pending installation of air-conditioning units rather than concerns connected to the Stop Work Order.
At the June 8 meeting, staff were again invited to identify unresolved issues related to the original order. The Ministry reiterated that the concerns that formed the basis of the Stop Work Order had been addressed, while acknowledging that additional maintenance concerns had since been raised involving other classrooms and facilities.
Following the meeting, the Head of DPE and a member of the Minister’s Cabinet conducted a walkthrough of the school with WITU representatives, school management and teachers. During the tour, concerns were documented in classrooms 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 112A and the counsellor’s storeroom.
The walkthrough identified issues including missing louvers, ceiling tile deficiencies, possible pest entry points, plumbing concerns and storage areas requiring cleaning and treatment.
The Ministry said that several of the areas identified during the walkthrough were not among the classrooms covered by the original Stop Work Order, which applied only to classrooms 103, 104, 109, 113, 114, 115, 116 and 117.
According to MECYS, this distinction is important because the newly documented issues represent additional maintenance concerns requiring follow-up rather than evidence that the original Stop Work Order issues had been left unresolved. The Ministry said the concerns have been documented and that further reassessment by VSA will be requested where necessary.
The Ministry also stated that it has never claimed that public schools are free of maintenance challenges and has repeatedly acknowledged the need for a more structured and sustainable approach to school maintenance. As part of that effort, DPE is moving forward with a public tender for preventive maintenance across all public schools, with the goal of establishing a structured maintenance contractor and inspection schedule for the upcoming school year.
“It was disappointing to see many of the facts and processes shared during the meeting omitted from the subsequent public narrative, while recommendations reiterated by the Ministry were presented as though they originated elsewhere,” Gumbs stated. “Dialogue must be honest, complete, and responsible. The Ministry cannot allow an incomplete public narrative to stand where important facts have been omitted, particularly where those omissions may create the impression that no action was taken or that concerns were ignored.”
Gumbs also provided an update on the condition of the roof at Ruby Labega Primary School as part of broader efforts to address maintenance and structural concerns at public schools.
A site visit conducted on June 1 with structural engineers concluded that due to the advanced deterioration of the roofing materials and the design of the existing roof, it would not be feasible to install galvanised roofing sheets over the current structure. As a result, the entire roofing system will need to be replaced.
“The approach we are taking now is to initiate an emergency public tender process by the end of June, with the intent to start works in July,” Gumbs stated. “The target timeline for completing these works is by September 2026.”
The Minister said her goal is to avoid relocating students during the reconstruction process in order to minimise disruptions to learning. However, DPE and MECYS are also exploring temporary mitigation measures, including possible class adjustments, should portions of the work extend beyond the reopening of school.
“It is my full intention to ensure that there is minimal disruption to teaching and learning experiences as we address this long-running structural issue,” Gumbs stated. “All timelines are, of course, tentative and fully reliant on the success of the public tender and the mobilisation ability of the winning bidder. This is one of the more concerning structural integrity challenges at our public schools, and it highlights the critical need for the preventive maintenance SLA that is being tendered alongside all other pending matters.”
Addressing the broader issue of school maintenance, Gumbs said maintaining safe learning environments requires more than emergency repairs and depends on timely reporting, consistent follow-up and shared responsibility for school facilities.
“The Ministry has its responsibilities, and we will continue to act on them,” Gumbs stated. “At the same time, proper reporting and care for public school facilities help ensure that issues are identified early, documented clearly, and addressed in a timely manner.”
“Trying to catch Ministries, whether this one or any other, in a ‘gotcha’ moment does not help the teachers, students, or parents we are all trying to serve,” Gumbs concluded. “The challenges in our public schools were not created overnight, and they will not be solved overnight. But there is a difference between holding the Ministry accountable and presenting only part of the story in a way that creates unnecessary public distrust. Where facts are omitted or presented without full context, it becomes harder to move the work forward.
“I will not engage in a public back-and-forth, but I will say this: there are measured approaches to solving decades-long structural problems, and there are reactive approaches that may create even greater disruption. My focus remains on the measured path: addressing urgent concerns, moving the preventive maintenance process forward, and ensuring that teaching and learning are disrupted as little as possible while we work through these long-standing challenges.”
