The EARLY Childhood Commission (ECC) is warning parents and guardians to ensure that the schools they choose to send their children to are registered to operate in Jamaica, following allegations that the principal of a juvenile delinquent institution in St Catherine collected hundreds of thousands of intended dollars for the school and is now nowhere to be found.

Parents and administrators are now fighting to keep the doors of the school open after the ECC warned of a possible closure.

One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said she has removed her child from the school.

According to the parent, when she enrolled her child in the institution, she was added to one WhatsApp group which, she learned, included the school secretary and other parents. She said the school had a special department. At one point, she said she messaged the secretary seeking additional information. The secretary responded by telling her to contact the principal.

But she said the alarm bells went off when she actually met the secretary in person but the secretary has no recollection of their WhatsApp conversation.

“I later found out that the principal was pretending to be the secretary, and the secretary didn’t know until I raised the alarm in October (this year). We found out that he was also talking to other parents from the school and pretending to be her” , the parent said.

She said another red flag was when she was instructed to send tuition payments to the principal’s personal bank account because the school had no account.

“I remember from 2023 asking why the payment is being made to his account. He said there was a problem and they were trying to get the school account up and running, but they haven’t done it yet. I was a little skeptical but I said, ‘Okay, they been in business for a year (so) it can’t be a scam,’ and I think that’s why I paid,” she told Jamaica Observer.

“There were times when what would happen is when I made a payment, I’d text that number and send them a breakdown of the payment. Whether it’s for lunch, potty training, or recreational activities, I’d send all of that to the secretary .But what happened is that my husband would go there and say something to her and she would have an idea of ​​what we had talked about earlier, she says.

The parent said that after investigating and speaking with teachers at the school, she discovered that the principal was charging fees for programs that did not exist and had not been at the institution for weeks. She said she also learned the teachers were not being paid and were unsuccessful in their attempts to contact the principal.

“They were like, ‘Listen, we’re only holding out until Christmas because we’re here for the kids. After Christmas we don’t plan to come back. They told me they were just trying to hope that the parents would find out what’s going on with the school and take their children out of school,” the mother said.

She said she immediately began contacting other parents, urging them to remove their children from the school.

In addition, she tried to contact the principal. After many attempts, she said she got him on the phone and he agreed to repay her, but disappeared after their conversation ended.

“I was upset because I went out, got the uniforms made — and (the principal) sent out a list of things, and I got them all. I just said, ‘I want the best for my child.’ I know it’s a small school, and they just started…but I said I’m investing in this school because I believed what he said.The principal told us a bag of lies and said they had a play therapist and that it is important to teach children to play. He was good at putting words together and convincing us, she told the AP Sunday Observer.

She said she sent more than $100,000 into his account for her child and feels sorry for other parents who cannot remove their children from school because they have limited options for special schools in St Catherine.

When informed of the incidents at the school, the President of the ECC Trisha Williams Singh said the school has not applied to the ECC and does not have permission to operate in Jamaica. “The fact that they haven’t applied to the Early Childhood Commission, this is what we call a criminal early childhood institution operating in Jamaica. It shows up, it starts operating, but it has no Early Childhood Commission registration,” said Williams Singh.

“We actually visited this school in about August or September this year. The Inspector of the Early Childhood Commission met with this principal and informed them to apply for registration with the Early Childhood Commission — because when you show up, when we hear about you, we will visit you for to ensure that you comply with the law So far we have not received any application from this institution, she says Sunday Observer.

When informed about the activities at the institution, Williams Singh said the commission would go back to the school to request a report and conduct an investigation. The results of the report will be sent to the Ministry of Education to determine whether the institution should be closed.

She also shared that five criminal institutions have been closed by the ministry so far.

Williams Singh further urged parents to be cautious while enrolling their children in early childhood institutions.

“Before you send your child to an early childhood institution, you should ask and you should look for the certificate that we put out that authorizes them to operate. You also have an obligation to your child’s safety and well-being, so does the state, she said.

“The state plays its role by, for example, having a young children’s commission. Likewise, as a parent, before placing your child there you should ask, “Do you have permission to operate?” and if that institution is not licensed to operate, that should be a red flag to you as a parent, she said.

A source privy to the development confirmed that the ECC visited the school and had informed them that there were outstanding requirements that needed to be met in order to complete the registration.

“The ECC indicated that the registration was not done correctly and the application must be redone. The ECC also requested and has requested some relevant information from (the principal); but that information is still not up to date,” the source said Sunday Observer.

The source also confirmed that there is no school account, and parents were instructed to send payments to the principal’s account. The source added that the principal had informed them that he would open a school account but failed to do so several times.

According to the source, the parents were instructed to stop sending money to the principal’s account and attempts were made to create an account for the school, but the principal’s signature was required because he owned the institution.

A representative from the school, who requested anonymity, said that with the principal nowhere to be found, school administrators are now scrambling to see how best to fix the problem. They said they were not aware the school was not registered and are now trying to complete the process.

“What is happening now is that we want to get rid of (the principal). Someone is trying to get a name changed, and that person has also been in contact with ECC to make it happen, says the representative.

“Everything is still a little raw. We’re still trying to find our footing. Right now the school has no money; what we’ve collected is just lunch money. And then the students have been sick, so not much is coming in. We have nothing. Everything that was given was done in the principal’s account. No one else has access to his account or knows if there is anything left in his account,” added the source, who disclosed that there is no information that the matter has been reported to the police.

The representative said the school is also restructuring its administrative group, to see how best to reimburse parents and, if possible, save the school from closing.

“We’re honestly just trying to move things forward for the parents and the students,” the source said.

The Sunday Observer was provided with contacts to the principal and tried to get his views. However, the newspaper’s attempts were futile.