Following its press release yesterday reporting of the relocation of students and teachers at TN Tatem School to the Clearwater Middle School, the Ministry of Education is advising the general public of the immediate work that will be carried out at the school during the month of December.

This work will address the issues detailed in the Report prepared by the Government Safety and Health Coordinator; and the concerns of the school staff.

This week the Department of Parks will be cleaning the school’s inside courtyard and outside areas around the school building; while the Department of Works will be addressing Air Conditioning and classroom ceiling issues. It is expected that the deep cleaning of critical areas throughout the school will commence next week Monday, December 12th and will continue for the full week.

Mold and indoor air quality testing of the entire school building will occur after the deep cleaning process and should take roughly 3 days. The results of the mold and air quality tests will then determine if there is a need for any mold remediation.

It is anticipated that the results of the air samples and surface samples which have to be sent overseas for evaluation will be available by the latter half of the week of December 29th but this could extend into the first week of January due to the holiday season.

A similar inspection of all other middle schools will be undertaken on a schedule to be finalized with the Office of the Safety and Health Coordinator.

As previously advised, T.N. Tatem teachers reported to school today to work on logistics with the school administration; and will report to Clearwater Middle School tomorrow, Wednesday, December 7, for orientation into the school building.

Students are scheduled to begin classes at Clearwater Middle School on Thursday, December 8th.  Buses will be provided by the Department of Education to transport students to and from Clearwater Middle School each day. A detailed bus schedule will be provided tomorrow.

The Ministry would like to thank the BUT, school PTAs, staff and principals of both schools, including Department Officers for the collaborative work done so far in making this plan workable.