Minutes of 5/7/11 NY Executive Committee meeting
Venue: Beba Real Estate office, Jamaica
Time: 930-1130pm
Attending: Kris Lachman, Riaz Bacchus, Radha and Howard Bernstein, Ganee Abdool, Sandy Mangray, Eno Chabinauth, Cecilia Vasconcellos, Ameer Gulmohamad
Items discussed:
1. The committee was very pleased to welcome 2 new members: Cecilia Vasconcellos ’77 and Ameer Gulmohamad ’79. We appreciate their interest and enthusiasm
2. Riaz trip report to the school: Riaz was in Guyana for 3 weeks during March/April and spent significant time working on LCSS issues and visiting the school. We reviewed the following:
a. Headmaster: The new assistant headmaster is Mr. Fenton Frasier. Unfortunately for both the committee and the school itself, this is the third headmaster in 4 years. It seems that competent headmasters are taken from LCSS and appointed elsewhere or move on to higher positions. This unfortunately breaks up the continuity of the programs that we and the school itself try to implement. Because of this turnover Riaz had to reacquaint Mr. Fraiser with who we are and what our goals and aspirations are. The committee therefore decided to look for a way to better support our interests at the school and the following will be worked on:
aa) Start a LCSS student group to liaison with: Kris and Ameer will get in touch with Mr. Nick the IT teacher at the school to organize this. Incentives such as a paid trip to the USA for a star student can be an option to arrange.
bb) Riaz had met an older woman named ‘Auntie Chatto’ who is an exam supervisor amongst the local schools and had initial discussions with her to be our liaison. Riaz will now contact her again and see what can be arranged.
b. Playground- We are having some difficulty finding a contractor with the necessary machinery to complete the job. Eno knows someone in the business near the school and she will reach out to them for assistance
c. Infrastructure repairs: Riaz reports there are no major repairs needed and the buildings are functioning satisfactorily at this time
d. Ministry of Education Interaction: Riaz met with Ms. Bhajjan who was also an alumni, class ’69. There is a program the LCSS can apply for so that the school can be a computer training center. Once a center is in place, the government will give free computers to LCSS. Riaz is going to coordinate this application with the headmaster
e. Computer lab: We have decided to postpone more improvements until broadband reaches the school most likely this summer
3. Graduation Ceremony 2011: We will fund this and Cecilia is going to coordinate with the school
4. More frequent visits to the school: We have agreed that we should visit at least 3 times a year starting when plans for various programs are ready, that would benefit from face to face contact.
5. Gord Ramkissoon of Canada: Gord was in touch with Howard and Gord informed he was interested in setting up a scholarship fund for needy LCSS students. He also has other good ideas to discuss with us. Since Eno knows Gord well, she will contact him and coordinate accordingly
6. Joint event with Canadian LCGSS- We would like to reach out to the Canadians and plan a joint event in Canada for which we will all go and attend. Further discussions will follow on this
7. Upcoming dinner dance: It is felt that perhaps Fairfield Pavilion might not have enough seating capacity for our event. Some of us will be attending a party there on June 11 and will decide then if a change in venue would be needed.