22 roses for 22 years - St James High honours outgoing principal for two decades of service

WESTERN BUREAU:

Joseph Williams, the outgoing principal of St James High School, was on Wednesday hailed for his transformative leadership, which helped move the institution from a low-performing school to one now highly regarded for discipline and academic excellence.

Williams, who will proceed on pre-retirement leave at the end of the school year after serving the institution for 22 years, was presented with 22 roses, along with other tokens and gifts, during the school's 2026 graduation ceremony at the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Montego Bay.

In his charge to the graduating class of 2026, comprising 170 students, Williams, affectionately referred to as ‘Father Joe’, urged them to carry the high standards of academic excellence they developed at the school into the next phase of their lives.

“If you come to the school, there is a motto or creed there which says, ‘Toward Better Living,’ and it is better living that we want in Jamaica. From the 22 years I am at St James High, no student has been murdered at St James High, and to God be the glory,” said Williams, who was awarded the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education in 2018 and named the 2018-2019 LASCO Principal of the Year.

“There is better living, whereby you must not fight one another, but you must fight for each other, and that must go into the society. We follow the mantra which says that every child can learn, and at St James High, every child must learn,” continued Williams. “All of you must be qualified for graduation, because as long as you are registered [to attend the school], we do not play around.”

St James High, which was established in 1961 and was previously known as Montego Bay Secondary School, once had a reputation as a stronghold of lawlessness, producing some of St James’ most feared gangsters, including reputed Stone Crusher gang enforcer Delano ‘Bigga Crime’ Williams, alleged Fresh Roses gang leader Garfield ‘Don’ Sawyers, and former Tivoli Gardens enforcer Cedric ‘Doggie’ Murray.

By contrast, in recent years the school has established itself as a beacon of scholastic excellence. The most recent example came in the May-June 2025 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations, where several departments recorded pass rates between 90 and 100 per cent.

Under Williams' leadership, four new classrooms were built, meal programmes were introduced, and agricultural science, geography and chemistry were added to the curriculum.

The school also instituted a ‘report week’ initiative to strengthen partnerships with students’ families, installed perimeter fencing to enhance security, established a welfare department to cater to the needs of teachers, students and staff, and emerged as a force in schoolboy football, winning both the DaCosta Cup and the Ben Francis Cup.

Williams’ tenure as principal was not without controversy. In 2024, he faced criticism after being accused of expelling two female students, who were reportedly caught in a compromising situation, without following due process. He also had disputes with two teachers who claimed they were wrongly terminated for unsatisfactory performance during the same year.

As a parting message to his students, Williams urged them to uphold law and order in all their activities while reminding them to enjoy their youth and not rush into adulthood.

“None of you should become a teenage mother or father, because you are not ready yet. You must enjoy life,” said Williams. “I do not want to see any of your names or pictures in any newspaper saying that you were ‘un-alived’ by police. Your motto requires of you that you move towards better living.”

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com