Mae’s School to remove fence, clear debris from public playground

Mae’s Primary School in Subryanville, Georgetown will have to remove the fence it has unlawfully erected around the Farnum playground, by which it has cordoned off a public facility for private activities.
This was one of the recommendations inked on the final report of the Justice (retd) Cecil Kennard Commission of Inquiry presented to the Local Government Commission (LGC) on Friday. The recommendation is that the ground should be returned to residents of the community.
“[I recommend] that the City Engineer takes the necessary steps to have the fence, which was unlawfully erected at the Farnum playground by the Mae’s Primary School, be completely removed, as well as the builders’ waste,” retired Justice Cecil Kennard declared during his presentation of the CoI report.
He added that there were claims of senior City Hall officials assuming that permission was not given to construct the 12-foot fence.
“The mayor is denying giving permission to the proprietor of Mae’s Primary School to erect a fence; but lo and behold, a fence was almost completed. It was only when the residents of Subryanville raised a hue and cry that the City Engineer went and stopped the fence. The fence had gone three-quarters way,” the CoI Chairman explained.
“What was happening all the time? It may very well be that someone at City Hall orally told Mae’s, ‘You can go erect a fence’. Farnum playground, according to the City Engineer, is an open space, and it’s restricted to recreational purposes,” the CoI Chairman stated.
A public outcry by residents of Subryanville ensued after a portion of the Farnum Community Ground was barricaded and used by the Mae’s School students only. Administrator of

the Mae’s Schools, Stacy French, had been banning persons from utilising the public amenity by padlocking the gate erected on the ground.
Along with building of the fence, workers doing construction at Mae’s Schools had dumped waste materials, including wooden boards and large chunks of cement, on the fenced playground.
Subryanville resident Damian Fernandes had told the Commission, “If you check, you will see that the metal rods are still sticking out of the ground. The form boards that were used to cast the base were thrown with nails, and you can see the nails sticking up; and that’s how it is left for many months. The construction crew from the school (has been) dumping builder’s waste on the ground,” Fernandes explained to the Commission.
He noted that it was very difficult to weed vegetation on the playground, since machinery is being damaged by materials that were dumped in the ground, which had recently been resurfaced to the tune of $2.7 million.
During his testimony before the CoI, City Engineer Colvern Venture was recorded as saying, “I can’t recall seeing any application for a fence coming to me…It’s considered a public open space which is basically used as a recreational facility for the community.”
Venture was asked to make contact with the administrator and proprietor of Mae’s Schools, Stacy French, to have the fence and debris removed from the ground, and have the playground returned to the residents of the community.