Father Garfield Rochard, parish priest at the Church of the Assumption, Long Circular Road, Maraval, is denying claims that the church hall is being used as part of a “covert operation” to house students from Arbour and Rosewood Private Schools while an injunction remains in place preventing the schools’ management; Edfam Limited, from opening its doors a “stone’s throw away” from the church. “We’re not running a school here. We are just facilitating classes; four of them, on a temporary basis for the younger students during the week, from about 8 am to 1 pm. I have not seen any real traffic caused by this when students are coming and going from the hall, so I don’t understand what the complaint is about,” Rochard stated. “School officials approached the Assumption Parish Centre Board about conducting classes in our hall and the board gave its permission. There’s nothing covert about that,” the parish priest told Newsday on Saturday. He also said there are two other locations; the names of which he was unable to provide, currently being used as temporary accommodations for other students from the schools. Rochard was speaking with Newsday on Saturday, following concerns raised by Maraval resident, “Joan”, who contacted this newspaper about what she described as “a whole covert operation to re-open the school while the injunction is still in effect.” The woman recalled that about a week ago, she saw a “seven or eight-year-old boy wearing the school’s monogrammed shirt” in the Maraval area. Joan said when she asked, “Where is the school now?” the boy didn’t reply. Instead, his mother asked Joan to “define located” before reportedly mumbling that the school had been relocated “somewhere down the road.” Joan said her suspicions were “confirmed” late last week by an article published in Issue 38 of The Northerly; a free publication for residents of Maraval, St James and environs. In it, Rochard was said to have told the publication that about 50 pupils were being taught classes at the upper level of the parish hall. He was also reported to have compared Arbour and Rosewood Private Schools’ need for temporary housing to that of Maria Regina Private School, which was temporarily housed at that same church for seven months in 2009, while its building on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, was re-built following a devastating fire. Contacted about this development, DMRC Chairman Darryl Smith told Newsday , “This is the first I’m hearing of this. I will certainly look into it.” He added that the church actually falls under the purview of the Port-of-Spain City Corporation. Councillor for St James East, Jameel Bisnath, echoed Smith’s surprise when informed that classes were being held at the church hall and promised to “look into the matter on Monday to see if any sort of permission was needed for this and if the schools’ management obtained them.” Calls to Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh’s phone went unanswered on Saturday but an official at the ministry told Newsday she too was “unaware of this development” and would be in contact with the minister and Chief Education Officer, Harrilal Seecharam, about the matter. In early November, the Court of Appeal ruled that a High Court judge was plainly wrong to discontinue an injunction brought against Edfam Limited by the Diego Martin Regional Corporation (DMRC) back in September, which prevented it from locating its Arbour and Rosewood Private Schools at 129 Long Circular Road, Maraval. As previously reported, Justice Rampersad, in granting the injunction three months ago, said a strong prima facie case had been made out that Edfam Limited had breached Section 8 of the Town and Country Planning Act — requiring permission of the Town and Country Planning Division (TCPD) where there is any material change in the use of a building.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:59:15 +0000
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