A growing public health scare has forced the early closure of two additional public primary schools in the Bahamas, sparking widespread frustration among parents and exposing sharp rifts between school administrators and teaching staff over poor communication protocols.
Sadie Curtis Primary School and EP Roberts Primary School both dismissed students early Wednesday and will remain shuttered through the long National Heroes Day weekend, with classes scheduled to resume next Tuesday, the country’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has confirmed. The shutdowns mark the third and fourth public schools impacted by suspected impetigo outbreaks in less than a week, following earlier closures at Gambier Primary School and Samuel Guy Pinder Comprehensive School in Spanish Wells.
The crisis unfolded after teaching staff at both institutions raised formal complaints that school leaders failed to keep them updated on the spread of suspected infections, prompting multiple union interventions and mass staff walkouts by midday Wednesday. For parents of students at Sadie Curtis Primary, the lack of official communication created chaos: dozens of caregivers told reporters they only learned of the early dismissal through secondhand alerts from other parents or social media group chats, with no direct notification sent by the school administration.
One mother, who only discovered the shutdown when she arrived on campus to drop off lunch for her son, shared her frustration with reporters. “If I didn’t come to bring my little boy lunch, I would have never known what was going on, and he would have been here all day,” she said. “That ain’t fair.” Another parent with two children aged five and eight at the school confirmed she received an alert about the closure via a phone call from another parent, while a third caregiver said she only saw notice of the early dismissal in a parent community group chat. By Wednesday afternoon, crowds of parents were still arriving at the campus, parking along roadsides and inside the school compound as uniformed students waited for pickup behind the main courtyard gate.
Vernon Rogers, area vice-president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT), explained that staff had already flagged multiple suspected cases of impetigo, scabies, and other contagious skin rashes to administrators at Sadie Curtis, but grew frustrated after repeated requests for transparent updates went unanswered. Teachers gathered in the staff room at 8:45 a.m. to request a formal briefing from the school principal, but Rogers alleged the principal refused to address their concerns. “The teachers are finding out after the fact, rather than being proactive, and so that has created a problem in the school today,” Rogers said. Following the unsuccessful meeting, teachers contacted union representatives and signed out at noon, invoking Article 15.9 of their industrial agreement, which protects staff from unsafe working conditions that threaten health and safety.
Alexander Burrows Jr, president of the Bahamas Public Services Union, which represents roughly 15 custodial and clerical workers at Sadie Curtis, said his organization received reports of three suspected impetigo cases at the school, though the cases have not been formally confirmed by health officials. The union encouraged its members to leave the campus after the staff walkout. Burrows added that while administrators confirmed a professional company would conduct a full deep cleaning of the campus, he has been unable to connect with the principal or district superintendent to discuss the response to the outbreak. He stressed that open cooperation between administrators and unionized employees is critical to addressing workplace health concerns effectively.
At EP Roberts Primary School, Keysha LaRoda, president of the Bahamas Educators, Counsellors and Allied Workers Union, said her organization first raised concerns about the outbreak with the Ministry of Education on Tuesday. She noted that initial cleaning had already been completed at the school, but the work did not cover the entire campus. After union representatives pushed for further action, the ministry agreed to order a full deep cleaning of both EP Roberts and Sadie Curtis, leading to the decision for early dismissal at both institutions.
LaRoda took a public stance against the decision by BUT members to invoke Article 15.9, arguing that unions should follow established escalation procedures laid out in their industrial agreements. Her members signed out at their regular midday lunch break, and she said she would have advised against triggering the health and safety provision because the ministry had already finalized plans to close the schools. “They have already done the resolve so that schools could be dismissed, you give time for the parents to come pick up your children,” she said.
Union officials have also offered conflicting accounts of the number of suspected cases at Sadie Curtis Primary: Burrows cited three unconfirmed cases, while LaRoda put the number at four. As of Wednesday, the Ministry of Education had not released an official count of suspected infections. The outbreak has already impacted other schools across the country: Gambier Primary, which closed earlier this month over suspected impetigo and was cleared to reopen this coming Monday after a deep clean, saw new suspected cases reported on Tuesday, prompting BUT president Belinda Wilson to urge teachers to walk off the job.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technology Chester Cooper outlined the government’s response Wednesday, saying officials are working to contain the spread of the infection while minimizing disruption to student learning. Cooper confirmed that impetigo is highly contagious but not life-threatening, and deferred further public health guidance to the Ministry of Health. “The Minister of Health advises that it happens this time of year generally,” Cooper said. “It’s of great annoyance and could be painful, but it’s not life-threatening, so we want to make sure that we’re not losing instructional time for the majority of our students by trying to really curtail the spread in schools.”