Portland Principal Helps Community ‘Press’ Forward After Hurricane Melissa

A Portland-based school leader has been receiving widespread praise after turning the school into a hub for parents and other community members to iron their clothes, following Hurricane Melissa.

Principal of the Seaside Primary School, Adli Lewis, told JIS News that the idea grew from his own experience living in one of the many communities that remained without power at the time of the reopening of school.

Relying on the school’s resources to iron his clothes for work, Mr. Lewis realised that parents and students may be facing the same challenge.

“Having that experience and having relied on the school to provide me with the resources that I don’t have in order to do my job, I thought to myself ‘if I can use the school’s electricity to be ready for work and to turn up for work, then so too should the students and the parents,’” Mr. Lewis said.

Even before that, the school had implemented a no-uniform policy to ease the pressure on families struggling after the storm.

When school resumed during the week of November 4, staff and students were encouraged to wear casual clothes as the institution focused on psychosocial support to help the community process the trauma of Melissa.

“We wanted to be in unison and we wanted to support those around us that were unable to wear uniform at that time. So, we were standing in solidarity with all our students and all our staff members, and so that’s how we started out,” the Principal noted.

As more communities regained electricity, the school gradually reinstated its uniform policy, while also recognising that several communities remained without power.

To bridge the gap, the school opened its gates every Sunday, between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. where persons could come and use the ironing stations set up along the corridors.

“We [decided to] open up the school then for them to be able to come here and to iron the students’ uniforms; and even if they want to iron their work clothes, that’s fine, because the important thing is to return to productivity,” Mr. Lewis told JIS News.

The initiative quickly grew beyond the school population. Even a few high-school students from Fair Prospect High and St. Thomas Technical benefited, as did a local immigration officer who needed pressed clothing to support relief operations at the airport.

“Some persons… don’t want to be a bother to other people. So, opening the school space to them, I think they’re more comfortable coming here than going to somebody’s home and intruding,” Mr. Lewis said, noting that some persons took along their own iron or ironing board.

Principal Lewis is happy to have had the opportunity to support the community in returning to productivity after a traumatic weather event.

“As the Prime Minister would have said, we have to increase our productivity, and we listened and we were able to respond as a school,” he said.