Education Minister Randy Horton last night accused bosses at Whitney Institute Middle School of attempting to "cause upheaval" by advising staff to prepare for the school's closure.

Mr. Horton said he discovered via the media that the school administration had issued the directive and that it was "particularly shocking" as the chairman of the school's board of trustees knew he was due to discuss a solution with Cabinet yesterday.

"I was extremely disappointed by today's action which came totally out of the blue," said the Minister. "This is not in the best interests of the students and staff of Whitney and is designed to cause upheaval.

"The motives are questionable and I wish to assure the students and staff of Whitney that this Government will not permit their futures to be held to ransom like this."

It was revealed last month that the trustees of Whitney had written to the Education Ministry to say the termite-infested, ageing school — which has 300 pupils and 40 teachers — was unsafe and would close at the end of June unless Government could come up with an emergency renovation plan.

Talks between the trustees and Ministry officials appeared to have averted the closure but last night ZBM television news reported that Whitney principal Freddie Evans had emailed faculty and other staff to advise them to remove all their belongings from the school in advance of it closing permanently.

Neither Dr. Evans or board chairman Tom Davis could be contacted for comment last night. But PTSA president Wendell Eve said the latest developments came as a "shock and surprise" to him.

"The Minister of Education and the board of directors are still in talks," he said. "They are still trying to work things out. I know that the Ministry is working hard with us. They really want to push forward and work with the school.

"We are just waiting on an agreement being drawn up between the board and the Ministry of Education. We are really looking at being open in September and getting some work done there to make it safe."

The PTSA is due to find out more at a meeting at the school on Monday afternoon.