After 20 years he has left his mark on Oracabessa Primary and on his community
When Hopeton Hugh Gordon decided to take on the challenge of leading Oracabessa Primary School in St Mary, 20 years ago, little did he know that his first day would have been met by angry protestors who were against the appointment of an ‘outsider’ as principal. Mr Gordon, a self-driven and ardent educator was not deterred by the protest and he calmly asked the protestors, who knew nothing of his successful track record as a fairly young educator, to give him three years to prove himself. And within those three years, Mr Gordon, who was coming from a much smaller school in a more rural community, was able to exercise great strength, and turned Oracabessa Primary into one of the leading primary schools in the parish, not only in academics but also in other areas. All that, despite numerous challenges including having to work with the dreaded shift system. He had come to Oracabessa, then with 760 students on roll, from being principal at a much smaller Water Valley Primary, his alma mater, also in St Mary. Today, Mr. Gordon is not only well loved and respected by the community but also is credited daily for his successful leadership of the school. Mr. Gordon took over the leadership of the school in 1993 and immediately he was faced with many challenges. Not only did he have to prove to the community that he was capable of leading the school, he also had to deal with other challenges including a shift system. Within three years, the timeline he gave to the school community to turn the institution around, Mr. Gordon was able to take the school off the shift system through the erection of new buildings. Examination grades started to trend upwards and students began excelling in other areas of school life, including sports. “Within three years the numbers started growing because parents saw changes in the school, examination results started changing.” Those years included two years of Common Entrance and when GSAT was introduced there were even greater results. “Children who were sent out of the area to school started coming back and everything else took off, we saw with the new building, a computer lab, sports saw changes and children doing well, in fact the first National Lawn Tennis champion came from Oracabessa Primary, that is when it was opened up to primary schools,” Mr. Gordon explained.
INCREASED NUMBERS
Mr Gordon said that during his 20 years at Oracabessa Primary, the school has grown tremendously and now has a population of 1,043 on a straight day system. The numbers had gone up 1,200 at one point. He explained that the school continues to do well in all examinations administered by the Ministry of Education and that at the GSAT level, scholarships including the country’s 40th and 50th anniversary national scholarship for the parish were awarded to his school. He said the schools at which Oracabessa Primary students have been placed, based on their performance in GSAT, include “every brand name high school around the island. This happens every year including this year with averages ranging between 94 percent and 97 percent.This year the boy from Oracabessa Primary who will be attendingCampion College has an average of 98 percent. An educator for some 37 years, Mr. Gordon said his many years in the classroom have been a learning curve and it is a profession he has thoroughly enjoyed and he would not give up the teaching profession for any other. “I have learnt to be humble, I have learnt to be patient, I have learnt to be decisive in decision making and I have also learnt to follow my heart,” he said. “I have grown to understand the community and the community has grown to understand me, so there is a synergy, there is a chemistry, sometimes it’s to my disadvantage but overall, it has been a fulfilling period of my life.” Mr. Gordon’s journey as an educator started shortly after he graduated from Water Valley, near Islington in St Mary. Unable to further his education because his mother could not afford it, he enrolled in the electrical installation programme at what is now Port Maria HEART. A teacher at the school saw his potential and offered him private lessons. His ability to become a good leader and teacher was also recognized by his principal at Water Valley who, one day, unknown to Gordon, sent him for a pre-trained teaching job at Jack’s River All Age. As a youngster in the classroom, Mr. Gordon soon made his impact felt at Jack’s River and also at Water Valley and sometime after, again unknown to him, an application was prepared and sent to Mico Teachers College. He described the experience at Mico as an eye opener, pointing out that it was while at college he realized that some of the material he was teaching was incorrect. However, those were corrected during his studies and upon his graduation, where he walked away with several awards, he went back to Water Valley as a teacher and within two years he was appointed principal. After seven years as principal where he introduced several programmes, including a vibrant sports programme and improved passes in the Common Entrance Examination, he was appointed principal of Oracabessa Primary. “Unfortunately, the transition at Oracabessa was not as smooth, there was a level of resistance and understandably so, because there was someone here who acted and, to be logical, it would be more reasonable to consider that person,” he explained.
Born in Manchester, he migrated to St. Mary with his mother and stepfather, Mr. Gordon grew up as an only child and he told The Times that teaching has been in him from a very young age especially since he would normally “teach” the trees and animals in his yard. As a youngster, Mr. Gordon was very active in the Roman Catholic Church in his St Mary community and today he serves as elder at the Immanuel United Church, treasurer at the church and chairman of the evangelistic committee. A Justice of the Peace for 26 years, Mr. Gordon has been very active in the communities in which he has lived and worked. He is involved in a mentoring programme organized by his church for youths in his Three Hills community. He also teaches literacy classes free of charge to youths in Three Hills and has taught classes for the then JSC exams to youths in Jack’s River and Water Valley. After graduating from Mico with a credit certificate, he completed the Certificate in Educational Management at the UWI. He received the GINN Trophy for the most outstanding Primary Teacher and the trophy for distinction in teaching and distinction in individual study. A former returning officer for St. Mary Central, Mr. Gordon has received several accolades the most recent being the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for service to education, which he received on June 12. Mr. Gordon is also recipient of the Jamaica Teachers Association Golden Torch award for 37 years in education, National Commercial Bank award for outstanding service to education and the Carlong/Joint Board of Teacher Education for being an outstanding teacher. He has served his profession in many ways and for many years. He was president of the North Saint Mary District Association, and the president of the St Mary Association of the Jamaica Teachers Association. He was also chairman of the Principals Association between 1994-1997. He is vice chairman of Quality Education Circle 22 of the Ministry of Education Region 2. Mr. Gordon is married to Rhonda and is the father of three.
