Students furious over dump failings
(CNS): Students from the Cayman International School are furious after the latest and certainly one of the most serious dump fires on Friday, and say they have many questions for government about its failure to address the growing landfill and wider waste-management problem. The private school, built by the Dart Group, is extremely close to what is known as Mount Trashmore, and since the school opened concerns about the impact on the students has grown.
It was students from CIS who spearheaded the climate crisis campaign in Cayman, Protect Our Future. But the youth activist group has expanded to include young people from government and other private schools. Their generation recognises that they will have to be the ones to solve the climate crisis in the coming years as the generations currently running the show have failed, and continue to fail spectacularly, to get a grip on it.
Friday’s fire served to remind the students at CIS just how particularly vulnerable they are. In a report documenting the day’s events, which they sent to CNS, the students outlined their concerns and the questions they have for political and other community leaders.
‘Why was a school allowed to be built so close to such a toxic landfill?” they asked hoping someone will one day explain that. They also asked, “How often is the air and water quality tested within a two mile radius of the site? Why does Cayman lag behind other nations regarding recycling, plastic policies and general waste management techniques? How does the Cayman Islands ensure that its people are safe when matters like this arise? How can all companies and community members do a better job of limiting their waste?”
Their school’s proximity to the landfill has also served to make the students at CIS some of the most tuned-in people when it comes to observing the government’s long-term waste-management failings.
“Students at our school know very well that when you throw something ‘away’ there is truly no ‘away’. It all ends up in our school’s backyard,” they stated, urging those with the power to do something to address the situation. This is not the first fire they have had to suffer but was certainly one of the worst.
When the fire was first reported the students said they were held on “lock-down in the classrooms” as the “smoke was billowing around the school campus”, which is only a few hundred meters from the dump. But soon afterwards, the call was issued for students to contact parents and guardians to collect them because the school was forced to close.
“As we each headed to our respective houses with our car windows up to prevent the inhalation of the toxic fumes, photo after photo continued to fill our social media pages. The smoke could be seen from all parts of the island. Each photo and new angle spoke a thousand words,” the students documented in their report about the incident. “Sadly, this is now a common occurrence for us.”
While some students may cheer what is now known at the school as a “Dump Day” when school closes, the students facing exams this year are very concerned about the time they lose to the dump. The students said they have health concerns that “no one wants to talk about”, despite the US Fire Administration’s warnings that landfill fires are especially dangerous.
“The environmental impact ranges from water to land to air. As students, we question how this environmental impact will be assessed,” they added in their report. They also raised the question of how a country with “one of the highest standards of living has a failing waste management system, where cars, tyres, and plastics pile up, exposing children to toxic fumes”.
Two of the POF members who attend CIS spoke out directly about the fire and what they believe it says about the attitude of those in authority.
Daniela Suarez, who is 17 and will be eligible to vote in less than one year, said the situation surrounding the fire shows how “unimportant the environment is to the government”, and that the students have been pointing out the dangers to them for some time now.
Another POF member, 14-year-old Mika Odagiri, who is in Grade 9, which means she is facing several more years being at school next to Mount Trashmore, said the fire on Friday was probably one of the largest dump fires Cayman has ever seen.
“Not only does this affect the environment, but it also affects our health, traffic, education, and the image of Cayman negatively. Spreading awareness is important, but taking action to fix the problem is truly what we need,” she said.
The Protect Our Future activists said they will continue asking these questions and press government to address the landfill issue, among many other environmental and climate change related issues.
Since the fire started on Friday, there has been no comment from the premier, the governor or the minister responsible for environment. While the government has made statements about the response to Tuesday’s earthquake, the impact of Friday’s landfill fire and the subsequent health hazard to the CIS students, as well as workers and residents in the area, has stirred no response from Cabinet.
Issues surrounding the Cayman Islands’ waste management are very well documented but the oft promised solution remains elusive. In recent months the premier has stated that the work on remediating the landfill was due to start during this first quarter of 2020. But the more than two year long talks, with DECCO the Dart company that won the government contract to implement the waste-management plan, have not yet resulted in a signed contract for the work to begin.
Meanwhile, the Cayman Islands Fire Service, which has been the body communicating directly with the public via regular and social media since the fire started, confirmed Wednesday that the dump fire was now extinguished. However, they are still monitoring the area and an investigation is underway.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health, Local News, Medical Health
Every time I think of Dart strategically building a school next to the dump, I’m reminded of this:
A psychopath builds a castle in the sky.
A psychotic lives in it, and a psychiatrist collects the rent.
Cayman’s Hannibal.
The only person in Cayman, that will ever do something significant about the dump, will be Dart. All the rest, will just complain along the way, as always.
Because it’s on his doorstep, and moving it will substantially increase the value of his real estate portfolio.
Everytime I see someone complaining about how Dart does his business I am reminded just how ignorant, jealous, and backward the culture that brought them up is. Poor fools.
It’s about time. Get those lawyer women on board too. Wasting time on the Port while we all breathe that $&@! hole in daily!
I worked with a Caymanian guy in 2000 who had spent years working on a solution for the garbage and recycling problem in Cayman. He wanted to work with Government on the project, they took it off of him and said ‘we will run with this’. And guess what? They did……….NOTHING! Even 20 years ago people knew that the garbage was not going to go away!
When CIS was being built it was under the public assumption that the dump was going to be moved. But why should Bodden Town or anywhere else in Cayman take that on?
When Dumpside (Lakeside) condos were being built it was the same thing. People bought pre-construction thinking that the dump was going to be moved. They bought with the intention of flipping them and making money off them once the dump had been relocated!
dumpside. $1600 one bedroom p/month. no pets or kids. Young Caymanian trying survive? lol no thanks, we cater to expats here.
Please read this;
https://dart.ky/news/press-release/george-town-landfill-to-be-capped-and-covered-next-year
”….a Waste to Energy (WtE) facility, a materials recovery facility, a green waste composting facility, a construction and demolition waste facility, a bottom ash processing facility, an end-of-life vehicle and scrap metal processing facility, a household waste recycling centre and a residual waste landfill. ”
sounds good, isn’t it? Only the monster is not going anywhere, but getting a lipstick. Secondly not a single Waste to Energy (WtE) facility was built in the US in the last 25 years, ask yourself why? Capping will accomplish very little.
Doesn’t that mean that on top of all the poison that leaches into the ground and goes into the air daily they will burn garbage now on a daily basis to create ‘energy’ and then just put more poisonous particles into the air every day ?
This is insanity.
All those kids are screwed!
DECCO have said they’d need a min population of 100,000 to make WTE financially viable, and probably more the way things work around here. Ergo: Burj Al McKeeva.
If that’s true, is there a correlation with CIGs aim for a population of exactly the same number, or is it bare coincidence?(yawns)
Who built a school next to the dump? Sue them!
Who sends their kids there?
I do and so do many other Caymanians. My son started in preK when they were next to the Cayman Water facility and will graduate this year. It is an excellent school.
Which government department approved building a school next to the dump..sue them!
The exact department that exists to prevent, not enable stupidity.
Who approved BUILDING the school next to the dump?
Heh, heh, there it goes:
Italian mayor rushes to quarantine cruise liner with 7,000 on board and stops crew from letting 1,140 people off the ship where two Chinese passengers are being tested for coronavirus
Chaos erupted in the Italian city of Civitavecchia on Thursday as the port’s captain tried to let 1,000 people off a cruise ship that had been quarantined over a suspected case of coronavirus (left, right and inset), only to be slapped down by the mayor. Nobody had been allowed on or off the Costa Smeralda ship since it arrived in port early Thursday, except for a team of three doctors and a nurse who tested a 54-year-old Chinese woman and her husband, after she reported flu-like symptoms. Several hours later, the port’s captain suddenly announced that 1,140 passenger due to complete their cruise that day would be let go, before mayor Ernesto Tedesco raced down to the dock while leaning out the window of a Fiat 500 and screaming: ‘Are you crazy?’
I really am struggling to comprehend why parents would pay 20K a year to send their child to a school next to the dump – and don’t get me started on those who have paid 1MM+ to live next to it too.
Easy answer. “Segregation”.
Ugh, you people love to make your lives more difficult by being bitter instead of working hard.
Tried that. Not welcomed. Something about hockey teams. Offered to take them out on a Catboat. Not interested. I wasn’t a “good fit.”
Face it. Your just not smart enough to figure it out. Maybe if your parents had put you in a school like CIS you could have a chance. Go ahead and get started on the people who are smart enough to pay so much more than you will ever have on a house. You are a fart in a hurricane No one will notice but you.
Now the dump is Darts fault? So its Darts dump? Didn’t he try to move it and fix it only to be stopped by the Caymanian voters? Only a blind ignorant fool would still think any of this is Darts fault. But it understandable to try and get him to fix the problem as he is the only one on this backward island who could get it done. To bad Caymanians wouldn’t let him. No one in Government has the ability to get anything done successfully. Anyone with a high school education from a real school can see this. Everyone else can not. Too Bad.
Dart is the worst thing to ever happen to Cayman! It is sad.
When you stop looking down your nose at your very brown tongue and come up for air, realise that your comments are also being read by multiple highly qualified and experienced international practitioners, who know you are talking bullshit.
All evidence to the contrary. But facts mean nothing to ignorance.
“unimportant the environment is to the government” . sooo true .. yet they waste money to get us to vote for the port! isn’t the dump much more important!
Everyone need to know ” The dump will not be coming to Bodden Town” take it to
West Bay….. definitely not Bodden Town
Bodden Town people do not forget when Mac and his crew tried to place that dump in Bodden Town.
Bodden town is just for Bodden town and cares nothing for the rest of Cayman Islands. They don’t care where their garbage ends up as long as it’s not Bodden town. Typical Caymanians against Caymanians against everyone.
Where are we going to put JGHS, Lacovia, and the asbestos-lined glass house when that falls over?
Yep Dart and Government are getting sued
About time.
Move the dump !
Move the school. They have the money anyway.
Yes move the best school on the island. Because it’s the best school on the island. So in Island culture its the worst. We get you.
truck it to the moon
Instead of fixing the dump. Did you go to government.school here? No need to answer that.
Ski slope soon come on the capped dump. Gonna be great fun!
expat children soon be running this island, while the left behind Caymans whose parents washed floors and cleaned hotels fill the new prison they are talking about building. One day in the near future Vice will be doing a documentary about how this all came to be. Sad.
Your pathetic.
You’re
How about Yoor?
You are ridiculous and need to stop. I know many Caymanians who do quite well. Don’t break the law and you’ll avoid prison. Free advice from a mom of Caymanian children.
That’s what Mac promised, and you were fool enough to thank him.
Now you are starting to see the result.
Expat children are actually standing alongside Caymanian children in the wake of all these situations. You would think what they’re doing is great but because they’re expat children you won’t support it? Let’s just be happy the younger generation is standing up to protect our environment, regardless if their expats or not, we’re all aiming for the same goal right?
Expat children seem to are ore about the island we all live on than the adult Caymanians we elected to the LA. And more sensible.
What did you expect after the status grant and a clear path to status by owning property? Didn’t the government realize these status grant children would grow up?
Mac’s Mass status grant children will grow up on NAU. Sad but true.
The tourism industry is already doing a documentary on the island there are three islands little Cayman. Came And Brock and stinky Cayman. stay away from that one the smell is awful People are talking
Why was a school allowed to be built next to the dump in the first place? Why do we stop expats voting? Why is the owner of the largest hardware company the chairman of planning? How did all the roads get financed? Who paid the cage at the seminole casino? Where did the car go that ran over the guy? Why do the same people keep getting elected? Why am i not in the lodge? What is the lodge? Who is me? Why is you? How has CIREBA not been disbanded? When will the next huge earthquake happen? How do i get off this rock? Why are my groceries so expensive? Has anyone ever seen Ken? How long are his fingernails? What does Alden put in his hair? Does he think we dont see it? So many questions
How long are his fingernails – comedy gold!
The children of that School should do a protest right at Camana Bay demanding the school be closed and moved to a safer location on the island.
After all it was built next to a toxic site.
In the time being there is enough empty spaces at Camana Bay for the children to be relocated until the new school is sorted out.
How dare they put children lives in jeopardy.
If you have ever had to deal with Dart on anything they are a complete nightmare. The question is quite right – why was a school built next to a toxic dump? I’m sure one of the kids parents at that school can start a class action against CIG and Dart for failing to disclose that the school operates within a toxic environment – that’ll give old Kenny boy a wake up call! What do you say Ken? I know you read all this stuff!
Did the parents not see the dump when they enrolled their kids at CIS? I think there is a waiting list to get in. Please put the tiny violin away.
Faulkner Academy had to move post-Ivan, becoming CIS, and at that point the GT landfill hadn’t yet taken in the scale of clean-up debris that it would soon have to deal with. Easy to point fingers 15 years later when there is literally a mountain – and that’s after the scrap metal was sent off!
Facts just piss these ignorant idiots off. Just let them live in fantasy. Its all they have.
Go for it, if you have money to burn on your frivolous suit.
Some on here blaming the children and parents now?how truly sad for you?? Yet we tolerate those RETIRED pariahs running around here in their Benz’s who were collecting big salaries in government to supposedly remedy this garbage situation only to find they were misusing govt monies or public funds to fund their lifestyle and feather their own little nest and in some instances they cannot or won’t explain exactly how or what they used the monies for. But instead of holding these individuals accountable for their actions or not doing the jobs they were very well paid to do.We let them retire early with a huge payment package which they hid from the public because MLA Ezzard Miller tried to uncover it by FOI to no available blocked no less by govt issued court ruling. Yet we now blame others including children who are now having to suffer and be expose to this very toxic ticking garbage bomb piled up 5 stories high really people??. Why don’t we join together and hold those who are really responsible for this terrible mess by suing them or citing them which would send a very strong message to our govt that they have to remedy the situation at the dump or face consequences for their actions or inactions. Kerry Tibbetts was right!! We should have dealt with that SOB! A long time ago and we won’t be in this mess now.?
The dump is overloaded with styrofoam!! We should al be protesting that!
And guess which Daddy makes his millions off of a family-owned styrofoam company? Hint: it starts with D!
These kids have every right to be upset. A school should never have been built next to a dump but Ken Dart and his employees made that choice to construct one there.
Government is a convenient scapegoat but Ken Dart himself will tell you we must take responsibility for our own decisions. These kids’ parents made the choice to send them to a school next to a dump. Instead of directing your angst at government direct it to the responsible parties.
When Ken Dart indirectly gave US$2 mil. to the longest serving member of the house so he could assist his constituents with mortgages in arrears as part of the ill fated “For Cayman Alliance” deal it should have been clear to everyone in the community from then (maybe these kids are too young to be aware of this) that Dart’s interests and the country’s best interests cannot be conflated. If these kids want to foment change they need to start asking Ken Dart and his senior employees the tough questions, he is the individual with the capital and influence over every aspect of the country’s affairs.
When Dart built the school there were clear indications from the CIG and politicians in power that the DUMP was going to be removed. Unfortunately, the CIG and politicians lost their political will to act.
Exactly, when the school was built Dart was moving the dump for us until a change of government decided to hold it hostage to see how much they could get for themselves from the deal. Everything on this Island is going to SHHH because of the government we have in place- corruption through and through
Clear indications are just that. Indications. Nothing concrete there. The entire concept of moving the dump was logistically flawed from the outset. In any event that is just the lamest excuse when we are speaking of exposure to school children. No reasonable person in their right mind would contemplate permitting a school to be built right next to a landfill site. This stinks of more than just garbage.
20 years ago it did appear very logical that the DUMP would be moved soon. Common sense. However, there was little within the CIG.
My kid goes to CIS. All very well for you to say that was my choice but when I enrolled them the only private school that didn’t have a waiting list was CIS, and as an expat I cant send them to public school even if there was space there. And if as some posters suggest you close CIS where on earth are you going to place all the CIS students. I think there is over 1000 now. All because the government can’t do its job and run the landfill properly ( or provide education for all the residents on the island). Yep. All my fault, right.
I would homeschool then. But won’t risk my children’s health and lives. Before accepting a job here you knew expats kids are not allowed to attend public schools. Many many expats have left the island once their children reached school age.
All you have to do is move to the Brac where there are no private schools so ‘expat’ children attend the government schools.
Simple.
Yeah let’s not blame the elected representatives with the power to change it, let’s blame a private person based on an assumption he alone has the power to control the elected representatives. Because that way you are not responsible for the outcome in electing these idiots – who you imply are actually corrupt and in the pocket of Dart but you elect them none the less.
Quite apart from the complete cart before horse morality in your submission ask yourself this – if Dart was as powerful as you suggest, why hasn’t the dump been closed already? He has a fortune invested in Camana Bay and it’s development and must be desperate for that to happen – so why hasn’t it? He hates people so much he wants to cut hundreds of millions in property value of his balance sheet just because? Give me a break. The man is all about money and a shiny legacy – i can’t believe he is t already doing everything he can to pressure CIG but it isn’t working. You might want to ask yourself why – but it may be a little uncomfortable not having him as a popular whipping boy.
I am not a fan of Dart or most other developers on-island.
In all fairness, CIG are ultimately to blame They give all planning permissions and make decisions at our financial and environmental expense. They allow folk to have “private” beaches and properties almost all the way to the waterline. They do nothing to enforce rights of way,. They allow retrospective planning permission instead of issuing steep fines. The list goes on.
Well here’s another fine mess they have gotten us all into.
Major class action lawsuit is coming against Dart and Government. Just wait.
The class action should be against the CIG as for 20 years they kept promising that the DUMP would be removed.
To where?
The East End.
And how many extra garbage trucks do you think would be needed? And how sensible is it anyway given you will be putting the entire population downwind?
The dump is exactly where it should be. Should it be better managed and controlled? Absolutely, but moving it is not the answer.
Exactly. Moving it would be a logistical nightmare, and would also expose the entire population from EE to GT with fumes and smoke from the prevailing easterly winds.
And because they gave permission for the school to be built there in the first place.
Sink holes, broken waterlines and there are briefings and live updates. Governor, Premier, HM right on top of it!
Thousands are being “gasses” for 3 days and it gets zero attention.
Zero attention because there is no / no political will to act.
The whole point is that everyone from all areas young and old, Island wide need to keep putting pressure on gov’t to publicly address this issue and find a solution once and for all. This concern has been going on for years and must be this year’s priority.
That is where the elitist choose to send their kids. The other plan was to put the dump in Bodden Town and contaminate the entire eastern districts where the breezes still waft and we can still see the sea on a good day. Thankfully they were stopped from doing that. These CIS children should protest the school itself and refuse to go. ” They should take the speck out of their own eyes before they try to take the plank out of someone else’s eyes” . Apparently the proprietors have oodles of money, they could erect a school at another more favorable location, but instead they prefer to wait around for the next dump fire, and the next ……….
they are also well involved in every aspect of life here in Cayman so maybe they know the solution to the dump. Perhaps they will share it with us one day.
Interesting, blame the victim’s mentality… You probably one of those who attacks Greta.
As for the dump in Bodden town, properly built landfill, not the dump, is for that very little what will be left after recycling. Unfortunately nothing you touch or built is done properly here, therefore you’re destined to drown in you own $hit.
Greta’s life is being ruined by elitist do-nothing-finger-pointing virtue signaling bottom feeding blowhards that accomplish nothing other than trying to make themselves look morally superior to everyone else.
And they are indoctrinating her and stressing her to the point to believe that her future is being erased as soon she won’t be able to breath. they are also teaching her how to be worthless virtue signalers just like themselves.
Ad it’s absolutely disgusting because it’s all a pack of lies, and in 20 years from now, when the earth and the climate is perfectly fine, perhaps there might be a few not 100% brainwashed by these prophets of doom, will hopefully come to the realization, that these people were lying scumbags.
Should we clean the dump OF COURSE! The same way you should clean your house and not live in shit!
Will the earth’s atmosphere stop being breathable and will we be 50 underwater in 12 years, NO! Stop your damn lying!
You are the type of person to whom no amount of evidence to the contrary would ever shake your smug, baseless opinion. And that’s convenient no doubt, as you can go on gorging on fossil fuels and ignoring the environment. Newsflash for you Bobo – maybe Cayman won’t be underwater in 12 years but there will be precious little of Grand Cayman above water in one short century. Start buying up land on the Brac I suggest.
Cayman is far more likely to be underdump before it is underwater.
We don’t have to wait 20 years to read the warehouses of scientific data, but you’d have to be willing to read and understand it subjectively. For the privileged, everything will seem rosy right up until it affects you personally. Like, when there’s no more convenient sushi, maybe you’ll awaken to the fantasy you’ve been living in. Then again, 70% of what you’re eating in your Moriwase platter is already not what’s labelled correctly, so who knows what failing standard denialists will content themselves with. Carry on I guess.
The alternate lined landfill was never going in the town center, but at the edge of the district out beyond the contaminating quarries drilling below MSL that you never talk about. The East-West Arterial was to be extended as well. Once Decco caps GT (announced for Q1 2020), guess where this regime have agreed to put the trash…and you’ll have to guess because the deal is secret!
Well you know who owns the quarries.
Its secret now (you think) but can’t be kept secret forever. At some point the people will have their say.
I’ll share it with you now if you like. Solution 1. Cap the existing dump. Put in methane venting systems and a lined berm to limit leaching. Establish a new landfill in a properly lined pit in BT alongside a recycling plant to limit input into the new landfill. Vetoed because no one East of GT wants a landfill even though they are happy to send their waste to GT in a far less environmentally friendly facility, and the government is terrified of losing BT votes. Solution 2, leave dump where it is but cap existing heap, vent, berm etc. Then establish recycling facility there and add a waste to energy plant to deal with new non recyclable trash. Everyone happy with that apart from the government who for some reason best known to themselves can’t bring theme selves to sign a contract with the winning bidder. Maybe Not enough in it for interested parties?
I don’t think you understand- let me explain. Nobody was going to put a “dump” in Bodden Town- they were going to build a Waste Management Facility- totally different thing! No need to worry about contamination or smells. Small mind!
No. The documentation clearly stated that all he was giving was a lined dump area, same as we have in GT. Dart made no commitment beyond that. Just as with the port, it seems you believe the smoke and mirrors.
There are a large number of elitists who also send their kids to schools on Walkers Road.
I fully support them we need to hold those responsible for this terrible toxic disaster we are having to suffer with continually at the dump, Instead they chose to give them a big pay$$$ off with along with a non disclosure agreement. These individuals need to be named and shamed for endangering the health and lives of everyone on this island. Its a national disgrace what has gone on here.
The Dart Group should never have been given permission to build a school so close to the dump. The students need to insist that the school be moved to a new location.
Students?
Agreed. And Dart of all people could have chosen to put the school elsewhere.
But the CIG has said for the past 20 years that the DUMP would be removed and it was a priority.
As could the Lakeside developers. And the developers of the new hotels in the downwind zone. And all those new houses along West Bay Road by Margaritaville. And all those people who have houses downwind of the dump built years ago – well they should simply move. Or you COULD blame CIG, whose job it is to run the landfill safely, but far easier just to blame Dart because he’s a popular hate figure, instead of the people actually responsible for the problem in the first place.
Parents.
The parents don’t want to rock the political boat. Their work permits might not be renewed.
Parents of enrolled children pay ISS (Princeton New Jersey), who are the tenants of CIS, a DRCL property. There is nobody in that hierarchy with any authority over work permits. Besides, there are dozens of Caymanian families who send their kids there, including politicians!
Don’t think 9:54 am meant the CIS political boat.
The Dart Group (DECCO) who won the bid to tackle the Dump could just sign a damn agreement w/ this slack, sorry excuse for a government and get on with it!!! What has it been, 4 years since winning the bid?? What on earth could take so long to come to an agreement… oh wait, it’s the CIG we’re talking about- there must not be enough monetary incentive for them to cap the toxic gases we all get the luxury to breathe every day for years! SMH, what a disgrace!!
Of course they’re not going to make a public statement about the dump fire, what could they possibly say that would justify their incompetence??
All we can do is hold them accountable and VOTE THEM OUT!!!!! ALL OF THEM!
Dart is attempting to find a way to make energy off of the waste so he can fuel his whole empire. It’s another reason he has major shares in CUC.
Watch Sci-fi much?
The students are asking the wrong questions. Why hasn’t the Amended Standards In Public Life Law been enacted? Why isn’t there a published contract between CIG and DECCO after all these years? What are we all missing? We can only speculate on why CIS’s landlord doesn’t want the general public to know the details.
No contract because getting that finalised is the reason for the delay. Both sides need to answer.
Details like, what is the number for the District MLA to unilaterally agree to move it to Bodden Town and accept the political fallout?
He’s not going to get re elected at this rate so his price may be falling
I think we’ll find that Dart dollars and SIPL shelving have long been directly related.
Are you kidding? They’re kids!!!!!!!
Isn’t it your job to ask these question? But since nobody is going to answer to anonymous commenters, why won’t you stop shamelessly hide behind children’s backs and gather infront of LA and ask it yourself?
These kids do what they can and they are not hiding their names. But isn’t it your job, as a parent or a citizen to protect their health and wellbeing? Isn’t it a job of thousands overpaid civil workers whose job is protect kids health and wellbeing?
What is happening here has a legal definition: criminal negligence that jeopardizes health and lives of thousands. I am not a lawyer, but believe some sort of protective injunction must be issued by court to close the school and another that would require the CIG to get their $hit together before they’re sued. They think they are invincible, so thought everyone who fell disgracefully from their white horses and ended up behind the bars.
The parents should be asking the questions not the students. What’s wrong with this picture? Have the parents totally given up now?
The irony is that the kids at CIS could choose to go to any other school in Cayman for less than half of what they are paying now. Just leave!!
Sure, there are 600 plus other spots at other private schools…Don’t be an ass..DART has just built and prek school and is in the process of completing a new high school.
The cost is exorbitant and I should know because my son attends school there but the major problem is that with all the people know coming on island there is literally no place for them to go and the government system is overburdened and education levels are at their worst..
As Caymanians who want our kids to have a good education we are limited to paying exorbitant fees or have our kids enter the public system which for me at least is not an alternative.
Going to a another school albeit a “public” school or being sick for the rest of your life. Decisions decisions.
I’ll take my chances with getting sick.
Then do not try to force others to move the dump. Fix – ok. But move – no. Poor people in Bodden Town matter too.
Many of these kids cannot go to public school because they are not Caymanian. And if they did you would be complaining that your public school are overrun with expats.
There is clear discrimination against expats going to Caymanian public schools. Only place in the British Caribbean with this level of discrimination.
Again, what space is there at the other schools? It’s not as if there is a choice.
Um…no. Have you tried to get into one of the other schools? Long wait lists every where.
So this means you are happy with the landfill staying there? You would rather bully back some children than support someone/anyone on this Island pressuring the government to do something that should have been done years ago.
It isn’t that easy. All other private schools on Island having waiting lists a mile long.
And were covered in smoke by the last fire, all while CIS was not.
Some have no other choice but to pay the exorbitant fees. The other schools would not even tell you how far you are on the wait list. When you are on the wait list, it will take years before you are given a spot.
You have no idea what is going on 9:49. Do you know how long the waiting list is at Cayman Prep?
Where are these empty school spots????? You must be living in another country!
If they had space. Which they don’t.
Yes, but what about their education and employment prospects?
Continuing to pretend this is an issue affecting only CIS is your biggest failure. Kids at schools on Walkers Road were kept inside at lunchtime on Friday as a result of the air quality. Ironically, CIS was in just as much danger as Sir John A Cumber.
noone is pretending. but only CIS kids are doing something. Lakeview residents seem to be quite content.
Probably more. Smoke doesn’t move upwind.
Good point, look at the prevailing wind direction in Grand Cayman. Look at how many are impacted by emissions from the Dump, Sewage Treatment Plant and CUC. That’s not to mention hydrogen sulphide emissions from all reverse osmosis plants.
Who regulates air quality in Cayman? Hear that sound? What? Yes it’s crickets……..and more crickets……
The CEO of Dart sends his kids to CIS. POF should enlist these kids to get their dad of his a@@ and fix the damn dump.
Funny thing is that you think they don’t monitor, and know full well it’s perfectly safe.
after you provide an independent report I still won’t believe it, since you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to KNOW, without report, it is not safe, in fact, it can’t be safe by default.
Because it in his power right? Dart won a tender to fix it. Government won’t sign the contract. So it’s Darts fault. Right.
Easy to say that 9:20 but you need political will from the CIG.
These headlines should scare $hitless parents of the children attending international school, the Dump workers, the firefighters, and those living in the vicinity of the Dump:
“Coal’s other dark side: Toxic ash that can poison water and people”
“Toxic ash, debris from California wildfires pose risks during cleanup”
“Leftovers from auto recycling targeted” (…residue from heavy metals in the fluff could seep from landfills into groundwater, while airborne metal-laden particles could endanger workers at recycling plants and dumps and people living in neighborhoods near such facilities.)
“AFTER INCINERATION:THE TOXIC ASH PROBLEM “
Actually these are all problems that should scare the shit out everyone living and working downwind of the dump – which does not ironically include CIS.
Joey no scared.
In the US, the criminal enforcement program investigates and assists in the prosecution of knowing or negligent environmental violations.
I recommend to review this document that would give kids (since their parents and school administrators seem to have no intention to intervene) an idea what next steps to take to force CIG into action.
” Negligence-Based Environmental Crimes: Failing to Exercise Due Care Can Be Criminal”
https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1065&context=elj
As a territory of the UK, the Cayman Islands must comply with the UK and international environmental laws and regulations.
Don’t try to import foreign (American) ideas. Just ask Mr Dart why he put his school there.
I just have to believe you are being sarcastic.
Can we all stop blaming Dart for building a school there? The problem is our govt won’t sign a contract to fix the dump! They are selling out our environment and those who attend CIS are not the only ones affected by dump fires– did you see that black smoke? Guess what? We ALL breathe that same toxic air. It’s an island wide problem, so stop focusing on the fact that there’s a school right next door, that’s really irrelevant. Fixing the dump is the issue, full stop!
Whilst I fully sympathise with the students, I feel they should also be asking the same questions of the developer who decided to put the school there in the first place.
And same developer is adding houses in the area.
Only one reason and the reason for the delay is that the dump is moving.
It will be sealed capped and moved Dart Dosen’t want it on his doorstep.
It will be spineless Aldens leaving legacy
They, the kids, should not be asking anything, you spineless cowards. It is yourjob to stop asking and start filing..
They, the kids, should not be asking anything, you spineless cowards. It is your job to stop asking and start filing.
I remember when CIS was first built and questioned it then with concerns to the proximity of the landfill posting a study from Europe and the consequences of living near one. The developer has no hesitancy effusing the lengths and breadths of research that went to in developing Caymana Bay making it very difficult to believe they weren’t aware of such studies before breaking ground on the school where it is. Many others at the time asked the same questions (the same with Lakeside) and whilst I’ll agree the CIG is liable for the management (or lack thereof) of the landfill there is no way any developer with sound conscience would have put the school where it is considering the studies available. Its all been done before, its just the angle and projection that has changed this time coming from the POF. As above I applaud the new initiative taken, but questions should be targeted more broadly and beyond just from where the rubber stamp came from.
And the government that permitted him to.
Kids, good opportunity for a lesson in civics for you all. Would also make a great class project. Get a lawyer to write an opinion confirming your rights. If they have been breached, go to the court house and try to get legal aid so government has to pay your legal bills. If the lawyers agree, sue the government for any breaches of its constitutional obligations to you and the environment. That will learn them, and force them to fix the problem. Imagine how it would look on your college applications if you won? Since they keep ignoring you and the problem, expecting it to go away, you just might.
Sure! And you assume the role of an amused observer, while they learn “lessons in civics” getting cancers along the way.
Would you like popcorn? What a shame!
No. I want the situation to be fixed and it looks clear that it will not be unless those responsible are forced. The kids are most directly effected and probably have the most compelling case.
I hope these students will address their concerns to the DART group. No further comment…
I hope you address it with Dart group.
Proud of these kids!
“When the fire was first reported the students said they were held on “lock-down in the classrooms” as the “smoke was billowing around the school campus”, which is only a few hundred meters from the dump. ”
THIS IS UNSPEAKABLE. UNFATHOMABLE. CRIMINAL!
Once it was determined that a hazardous event was taking place, why HMCI, Premier, Governor, LA members didn’t say a single word during and after the extremely hazardous fire that affected thousands of residents and visitors?
Why no briefings, “live” tracking took place?
Were shelters setup, respiratory masks distributed and general guidance provided to residents and visitors to reduce probability that adverse effects will occur with this specific exposure conditions ?
Who made a decision, authorized HMCI to ignore the Dump fire entirely?
Now that the fire was put out, what about soil/water sampling to determine the extend of contamination?
What is going to happen to toxic ash that is left in the open after the fire, which is 1000 times more dangerous than unburned trash/waste?
Frankly, why not a word from the parents of children who attend international school?
Every sq.inch of the school grounds is contaminated by toxic fire byproducts, absolutely no doubt about it. When kids and staff start getting cancers it would be too late for lawsuit. Why school administration is silent?
It’s also not true. The wind was never blowing that way. The lettuce you bought from Kirk’s that day and Joey’s backyard are far more likely to be contaminated.
What exactly is not true? Be specific.
You have a choice not to buy contaminated lettuce. Do people of the cayman island have a choice not to breathe and relocate to where the wind is not blowing?
Also, you seem to know precisely where fire smoke fallouts have ended up. Please map it so they would avoid it.
It’s not true that smoke was billowing around CI. It wasn’t. Kids like to exaggerate for effect. Don’t believe me? Look at the photos and tell me that s’mores plume wasn’t pointed more than 90 degrees from the school. Smoke doesn’t move upwind. But if you are a passionate CI protestor you probably think it helps your cause if you say you are a direct inhalant rather than protesting the obvious issue for those downwind. No one is gain saying there isn’t a huge problem here, but that doesn’t mean you simply take everything at face value or castigate those who point out unfortunate truths that run contrary to the more popular dialogue of blaming Dart.
I would think the reason they are silent is pretty obvious.
I was at the school that morning for story time. At no time was the smoke billowing around the campus. You couldn’t even smell the fire. The wind was blowing toward George Town.
Specifically, Lakeside villas and all the budget-settlements off Watler’s Drive.
And Joey’s house, Kirk Supermarket and the two new hotels under construction.
Facts will not help here.
Who told you that? No one at the school even smelled the smoke. It was going toward George town. I am a parent of a child that has been going to CIS for the last seven years. It sounds like a lot of posters are just mad that they can not afford to sent their kids there and of course that is Darts fault not theirs. Right?
We had 3 weeks of smoke from a fire in BT that they chose to let burn out at the expense of the health of people from several surrounding properties. They don’t care. They say nothing, bury heads in sand and hope it goes away.
What’s the point in getting a good education if you’re gonna die from cancer in your 30’s? You couldn’t pay me to send my kids there!
If not sooner.
The school must be closed by a court order.
Better yet the UK must take over and close CIG down. That is the only way the dump gets fixed. Unless Dart does it.
It’s not always on fire.
Daah! But it is always several hundred feet away from the dump.
And it always was. Why would you enroll your kids there?
“Good Education”?
At CIS?
Joke!
Better than most other options on Grand Cayman.
Who said it was a good education? Let’s wait for the report from the inspectorate.
Anyone know when the report on CIS is due? I thought it would be out by now
YeH. It will be worse than JGHA for sure!
Oh yeah, for certain. LOL.
Thank you for not sending your kids there. As for the government schools answer me this” Why send your kids to school if they are not getting a good education? You and I both know the reason.