Tourism Minister Ewart Brown has taken strong issue with the decision of some schools to go public with their anxiety over Government?s ?Pop By? flag scheme ? labelling their sentiments as a ?deliberate campaign of destruction?.

Nevertheless, two more private schools ? Warwick Academy and Saltus ? have joined Mount Saint Agnes and the Bermuda High School for Girls (BHS) in not actively promoting the initiative because of concerns over safety.

Meanwhile, numerous Government school principals contacted by yesterday were either unwilling to comment on the issue or failed to return phone calls.

However, Whitney Institute principal Freddie Evans leant his support to the under-fire campaign, arguing that it was important Bermudians ?re-engaged? with visitors and that the flags were a valid step towards that goal.

The brightly coloured ?Pop By? flags were handed out to schools by the Department of Tourism last week, with instructions that they should taken to various social gatherings as an invitation to unknown visitors to sit and talk with them about Bermuda.

According to Dr. Brown, the flags are designed to show that, ?I am a Bermudian, I am approachable, I welcome you to my Island and am happy to share with you?.

A number of educators, however, while praising the scheme in principle, have suggested the Department has not adequately thought through the repercussions of asking young students to talk to complete strangers.

A large number of concerned parents have also been in contact with their Parent Teacher Associations and to urge that the scheme be dropped.

But Dr. Brown is standing his ground, stressing that while he regretted the stance of certain schools, the Department would now be pushing even harder to ensure the programme?s success.

?The Tourism in School?s Programme which began in March and concluded earlier this week saw the hardworking Tourism Team go out to every public and private school in Bermuda and promote tourism,? he said.

?We were extremely well received and the enthusiasm of the students at all levels regarding tourism in general, and the ?Pop By? campaign specifically was a sight to behold. Two out of the 34 schools visited had previously registered their concerns with the Department of Tourism. At both of these schools there were spirited, energetic responses from the students and some teachers. As I have stated in the past, this initiative is about positive interaction. We regret that these schools have now expanded their concerns into a deliberate campaign of destruction. In response, the Department will now commit extra energy to ensure the programme?s success. We invite the rest of Bermuda to join us.?

But Robert Lennox and Nigel Kermode, the headmasters of Warwick Academy and Saltus respectively, believe that the initiative is more workable in theory than it is in practice.

?The head of the Primary school was very concerned about it,? Mr. Lennox said.

?We certainly do share the concerns of Mount Saint Agnes and BHS and had no intention at any stage of gaily handing out the flags to our students. At the same time, we understand what Dr. Brown is trying to achieve and we endorse his efforts to promote tourism and encourage us all to interact and treat visitors better. So what we are doing is telling parents that these flags are available if they want to come and get them and leaving it entirely up to them. We believe we are implementing what Dr. Brown wants in the right way. It never even entered my head that we would just hand them out to the students to do with as they please.?

Meanwhile, Mr. Kermode revealed that a number of parents have already voiced their opposition to the scheme.

?As with many of these initiatives, they look absolutely fine in principle until you reflect in greater detail on the practical reality,? he said.

?In fact, the philosophy behind the scheme is not helpful in that it encourages students to talk to strangers when we are counselling them quite the reverse. I appreciate the fundamental value of promoting tourism and encouraging friendly relations between Bermudians and tourists but I will not be encouraging our students to take the flags to the beach with them as has been suggested.?