CedarBridge Academy could have the highest teacher turnover of any school on the Island.

The problem was so bad, says the Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT), that around 30 percent leave at the end of every school year.

However, a Ministry of Education spokesman said there were 97 vacancies this school year for all public schools ? 19 of which were at CedarBridge Academy ? which meant only 20 percent, not 30 percent, left the school last year.

?Two of those 19 were resolutions, one took another job, one was terminated, one retired, two went back to school, four left for personal family reasons and eight would have been on work permits and did not get their contracts renewed,? the spokesman said.

Numbers were released in light of remarks made by two disgruntled CedarBridge teachers who said some teachers were disillusioned with the public education system in Bermuda.

A seasoned veteran ? who is leaving the school at the end of the school year ? said she had become jaded and cynical after making suggestions, based on years of knowledge and experience, which were cast aside or virtually ignored.

The teacher, who did not want to be identified, said she saw so many idealistic teachers become defeated when they found themselves powerless to bring about much in the way of change, including expatriate educators who feared putting their contracts in jeopardy.

All this, she said, simply added to the overall loss of morale, which came to a head when the recent staff Christmas party was cancelled due to ?lack of response?.

Principal Kalmar Richards confirmed it was cancelled, however, did not know why.

?We haven?t had a Christmas party for a couple of years,? Ms Richards said. ?We are a collaborative school. Whatever we do here has to be based on best practice and research.?

The principal said the number of teachers leaving her school had decreased.

?There had been a decline in that over the years. I do not have that data in respect to the other schools,? Ms Richards said. ?Sometimes people leave us and return. We even had somebody who left us and went overseas to take on a leadership position and then came back here to teach. We have had several of our teachers go to the private schools. We train them very well and we have lost them to the private schools.?

Ms Richards said she had an open-door policy for staff and students.

?People will bring ideas and comments but if they are not aligned with best practice, if they do not support the mission, if they do not enhance what happens in the classroom, then I will not support it.?

Teachers faced the axe if they were not good enough, she said, as expectations for teachers were very high.

But a disgruntled teacher said because the graduation rate decreased ever year, CedarBridge created a ?challenge exam? which allowed students to artificially boost their scores in courses they had previously failed.

Ms Richards did not comment on that saying it was a Ministry issue.

The teacher added that reading levels at the school, last tested in 1998, determined that 75 percent of students at CedarBridge had grade four or five level reading.

?Since no tests have been done since we have no idea how this has changed,? the teacher said, adding that it was still pretty low when it was taken into consideration that some 300 pupils out of the school total of about 900, currently receive some type of learning support.

?They really don?t come out with what is needed to be able to handle going to college or further education or even the workforce.?

However, Ms Richards said students who needed learning support were those with processing problems or physical disabilities.

The teacher added that businesses in Bermuda did not respect the BSC certificate because it simply was ?not worth the paper it?s printed on?.

But Ms Richards said that was speaking to the value of the BSC certificate.

?One of the things we are particularly pleased about is students who obtain a BSC are able to go directly overseas to colleges and universities or directly into the workforce. The certificate is currency for them.?

Asked about the teacher turnover at CedarBridge Academy, the General Secretary of BUT, Michael Charles, said the union was aware of the exodus of teachers every June and he hit out at a failure of the Ministry of Education to release information from an investigation into the problem.

?While some teachers? contracts are up at the end of each school year, many teachers are leaving for some reason or another,? he said. ?It?s been going on for the life of the school and we can?t put our fingers entirely on the reason for it. We had asked the Ministry to do some exit interviews with the outgoing teachers. Although this did not come about for years, I think they finally did and we have not been privy to the results. I?d like to see them because hopefully the people who leave would give honest answers about why, but this has not been forthcoming.?

Ms Richards said CedarBridge always had an adequate number of substitute teachers needed fill in gaps every September.

?There have been a couple of occasions when (overseas) teachers who were scheduled to start in September may come a few weeks into the school year, but not having a full complement is not accurate.

?We always have teachers for our students. So students have not been disadvantaged,? Ms Richards said.

Mr. Charles said the Ministry of Education did not ?want to pay much attention to the situation at CedarBridge Academy?.

?This has been brought to their attention, but they brush it off and simply say this is what happens when teachers? contracts are up,? Mr. Charles said, adding that he did not know of any other school on the Island which had such a high turnover.

His theory is that the root of the problem could well be the size of the school.

?We argued against a school that size ? it?s huge and it?s difficult to manage because of the way it?s spread out.

?Teachers say that they have students who should not be there and students who don?t want to be there. It seems like a very stressful situation,? he explained.

A seasoned teaching veteran at CedarBridge said Ms Richards felt teachers could achieve ?miracles with the students? and blamed teachers when things did not work out.

She said it was time the Ministry of Education accepted some of the blame for failing its students.

However, Ms Richards countered that CedarBridge was now offering similar exams as private schools when it came to Advanced Placement exams.

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