‘This one hit us hard!’

When Kadian Glenn took her daughter to Jessie Ripoll Primary on the first day of school, the crying youngster – adamant she did not want to be left there – was met by a cheerful, down-to-earth gentleman, who Glenn said spent much of the day comforting and reassuring her.

The man was humble, affectionate and patient as he spoke to her daughter, so much so that Glenn was surprised when she later found out that he was O’Neil Stevens – the principal of the school.

A strict disciplinarian, who at the same time was not one to shirk a football match with six-graders during lunch breaks, Stevens treated all the children as his own; and that is how the students, staff, and parents remembered their beloved principal yesterday as they officially started the new school term.

Stevens, who had been principal at the school for seven years, and his wife, Camesha Lindsday-Stevens, died tragically in a car accident on a highway in South Carolina in the United States. They had reportedly stopped to change a flat tyre when they were mowed down.

The couple and their two daughters were en route to the airport to return to Jamaica after a Christmas vacation overseas. Their children, one of whom attends the school, were not injured in the incident.

“This one lick we hot. Is not like him sick and dead. It is as if somebody shoot him untimely. It just happened in one go ... . This is really hard,” bemoaned Kadian Glenn, who, like most parents and staff at a special devotion on Tuesday, were teary-eyed and sombre.

“He acted normal like everybody. I couldn’t believe he was the principal,” said Glenn, recalling her first interaction with Stevens when he consoled her child. “My daughter and his daughter have been in the same class since then. She is now in grade three.”

Instead of excitement to be back among friends, the devotion was marked by crying, prayer, and remembrance. Enlarged photographs of Stevens amid floral tributes at two locations inside the school reminded attendees of the reality of their loss. For some students and staff, that reality tumbled home harder than others.

“Their emotions are all over the place, but because they have each other to talk to and to hold on to, I think they are trying to cope with each other. But there is a mixture of emotions – sadness, confusion, anger, some of them really don’t know how to feel at this point,” offered Davina Graham, a grade six teacher.

Throughout the ceremony, Graham became a pillar of support, offering comfort to the many crying students who attended.

“I’m trying to process it as best as I can, but I have to put on a stronger face for them (children) because they are at a place where they really don’t know how to process it and we have to be helping them with that,” continued Graham, as many of her coworkers wiped their tears.

Inside Stevens’ office, Chairman Marcia Thwaites reflected on his kind and humble nature. He was a team player – a teachable leader – who was on top of his emotions, she said, noting that he was always striving to be a better version of himself.

Representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Child Protection and Family Services Agency and other entities, including nurses from the Bellevue Hospital, were also on hand to offer grief counselling and mental support.

Bobbie-Ann Collins, the mother of Deputy Head Girl Yendy Crosdale, was one of the nurses.

“My daughter was very close to him as a student leader, and when she heard, at first, she thought it was a prank. It was afterwards that we saw it online and she has just been in disbelief ever since,” said Collins, who was also teary-eyed as she looked on at the devotion from the second floor.

“We are just here offering out services, not only to the children, but also to staff members and parents, who are facing a tough time with this. Final exams are also right around the corner, so we are doing out part to ensure our students can be back to some form of normalcy,” explained Judine Brown, head of the Child and Family Support Psychology Unit.

The students were urged to live and operate in the teachings of their beloved principal. They were charged with displaying good manners and discipline in their academic pursuits, and to stay true to this year’s school theme, and to ‘support the Mercy journey’ of their peers.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com