Africa-Press – Liberia. The Principal of the JJ Roberts United Methodist School System (JJRUMS) Samuel K. Sagbah is calling for a peaceful coexistence with the Williams V.S. Tubman High School after several ‘unprovoked’ attacks by students of the Williams V.S. Tubman High School on Friday April 5, 2024, and Monday April 8, 2024.
The attack by Tubman High School’s students on the campus of JJ Roberts School caused the school to take a compulsory closure for almost a week to prevent the escalation of the conflict.
Mr. Sagbah speaking to FrontPage Africa in an exclusive interview extended a hand of friendship to Tubman High School adding that violence should not be the order of the day.
According to the JJ Roberts School Principal, he had a conversation with the principal of Tubman High and has been assured that peace is going to rain between the two schools.
“We just hope and pray that we can mutually coexist with Tubman High School because given the fact that we should not be having conflict among us but just having that cordial and mutual relationship. We looked forward to having a cordial relationship with Tubman High School where violence will not be the order of the day,” Mr. Sagbah told FPA.
He added: “We have had conversations with the principal of Tubman High School, and he has given us the assurance that Tubman High School students will not come to carry on any act of aggression against our school.”
Joint Investigation Holds Tubman High School Liable for the Violence
Also speaking the principal of the JJRUMSS said a joint investigation was conducted by the relevant educational institutions to ascertain what went wrong.
He added that the finding from the investigation established that the Tubman High School was wrong and attacked the JJRUMS based on what he termed as mistaken identity.
Mr. Sagbah said: “An investigation was jointly conducted by the Ministry of Education, District #8 Representative Prince Toe, Monrovia Consolidated School System, the principal of Tubman High School, the Broad Chairperson of the JJ Roberts School. The Director of the Department of Education of the United Methodist School System was also present and during that investigation, it was established that JJ Roberts was not to blame for anything that happened.”
He added: “It was the case of mistaken identity on the part of Tubman High School students thinking that JJ Roberts School students disrupted their school, but it turns the other way. They apologized for taking the law into their own hands and that we should forgive them, and we have forgiven them because we are all Liberians but how the law takes it is above us.”
“We look forward to Liberians living in peace. It doesn’t offer well for someone to come and disrupt the educational operation of another school to cause panic and chaos. I really want our friends from Tubman High School to remain in school and just as they have the right to remain in school, all the kids at JJ Roberts have the right to be in school and they should create the atmosphere where the two schools can coexist,” he said.
Tubman High School Inflicted Over 20,000 US$ Damage at JJRUMSS
Adding up, principal Sagbah says the cost of the damage done by students at Tubman High School is over US$20,000. According to him, all the sliding window glasses at the upper part of their building were all damaged. He added that the roof of the school building was destroyed.
“All of the classes that are at the upper part of our building we are not using them now. All the roofs of our building, the elementary, junior high and all were all damaged. We must basically repair or change all those sheets of zinc. So basically, we are looking up to the relevant educational authority for our school building to be repaired and the cost is over 20,000 US$.”
No Injury During the Incident
Mr. Sagbah said there was no injury during the attack on their school campus. However, as parents made away with their kids from the campus some of the parents were attacked outside of the JJ Roberts School’s fence.
“However, with the extent of them (parents) sustaining wound I cannot say because I have not gotten any information on it. I can only say that God was very grateful to some because some of the stones that were thrown on this campus, had they landed on anybody’s head -remember that we run Kindergarten to 12th grade, we got babies on this campus. Somebody could have gotten seriously hurt during the stampede,” he said.
Mr. Sagbah added: “We did put in our standard operating procedures when it comes to these kinds of things, so we were able to put the damage control system into place. The kids were ordered where to go so we did not have a major injury during the stampede but on another day, we may not be too sure to be lucky that is why we don’t think that it should happen on another day because it is not civil, it is not in the interest of Tubman High School neither for JJ Roberts School, and we suffered it the most.”
“For Tubman High School to be associated with violence I don’t think it offers well for them. Tubman High is a respectable school; it is the first high school in Liberia, and we look up to them for leadership and they should be leading all other schools, and I don’t think the best way to lead is by teaching other schools to be throwing stones. Let them re-strategize and use their energy for other things,” he ended.
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