DAT President Celia Nicholas against Government plan to use Newtown Primary School as a Health Center

​President of the Dominica Association of Teachers (DAT), Celia Nicholas, has made another plea on behalf of the Association to the “powers that be”, to reconsider their plans to use a section of the Newtown Primary School as a health center. The Health Ministry recently confirmed the Newtown Primary School Auditorium will soon be used as the temporary site for the health centre. The original Newtown Health Center was closed in 2016, allegedly due to rodent infestation.
 
Nicholas is totally against the idea of using the school, on any “temporary or permanent-temporary” basis, saying that the authorities concerned should change the location for the project, because that is the “honorable thing” to do. She expressed her displeasure at the beginning of the DAT Annual Summer Institute on July 17, 2017, and repeated it on Friday 28th July at the school, where over fifty teachers received certification in various fields.
 
Nicholas said, “The Dominica Association of Teachers will appreciate the appropriateness and the value of this request, and two quotes come to mind; ‘Penny wise, pound foolish’ and the second one ‘Wisdom denotes pursuing the best ends by the best means.’ To those concerned, model strength of character and do the honorable thing, change the location for your intended project”.
 
She added that the Association is no longer certain of the use of the school, and is asking persons directly involved in the project to consider her plea. “We are no longer certain about the use of the location that we are in right now. At the opening, I made a plea and I am making it again. The Dominica Association of Teachers is once more asking, beseeching the powers that be, to reconsider, revisit their choice of this building, for the establishment of a health center”.
 
Nicholas said she is ready and willing to “take her blows,” especially considering the advent of delays at the Roseau Boys School. She added, “Be it temporary or permanent-temporary, I make no bones about it. Mr. Jerry Copiel, principal of the Newtown Primary School, do not take blows for me, I can take my blows for myself. We are saying even if it is temporary, we know how long it took before the Roseau Boys School could be occupied. So I do this on behalf of the principal, the staff and students of the Newtown Primary School, and also of the residents of this area, which is described as the mecca of football in Dominica”.