Education Minister "to level'' with parents about education reform plans.

Responding to news that conversion work on designated middle schools will not begin before the end of the year, Miss Smith said: "I hope that we will not have to wait until August '95 to find out reforms will not be in place.'' Major changes to the public school system, including the creation of five middle schools and two senior secondary schools, are expected to be completed by September, 1995.

And according to the 1992/93 Budget statement delivered in February, the conversion of four high schools to middle schools was scheduled to begin this summer.

Design work for a new senior secondary school on the old Devonshire Academy site at Prospect and upgrading Berkeley Institute to a senior secondary school was also to "continue in parallel with work on middle schools''.

But on Monday Education Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons confirmed that physical changes to make Sandys Secondary, Warwick Secondary, Whitney Institute and St. George's Secondary middle schools would not be seen before the end of the year.

He said his Ministry, principals, and architects were trying to finalise detail plans on the five middle schools first.

The fifth middle school is planned on the site of Bermuda College's old Technical Building in Roberts Avenue. But conversion of that building cannot begin until the college is completely moved to its Stonington campus off South Shore Road.

And that depends on the progress of construction at the South Shore campus.

A $2-million building for staff offices is under construction and expected to be completed in about a year.

Construction on a $7-million-plus academic building and a $2-million Applied Sciences building which will take about two years and less than a year to complete respectively, has yet to begin.

Mr. Simons, who promised that the public would see "a lot more activity next year'', said discussions with principals and architects on floor plans and preliminary drawings for middle schools would go on for "several months''.

At the same time, he said, Education Department staff were also working on plans for the middle school curriculum.

Mr. Simons said details on which high school building would be converted first would be decided by the special implementation team which he hopes to have in place by the end of October.

But Miss Smith said yesterday it was obvious that the fifth school would not be ready until the Bermuda College consolidation was completed, which could be as far away as the 1996/1997 school year.

"If we're not going to start the middle school system until all five schools are in place, the Minister should tell parents now,'' she said.

"...Unless he has some interim plan for implementing the middle school concept in the current system.'' Miss Smith said she was also concerned that the implementation team would be left to decide details on which high school was converted to a middle school first.

"I've been cautious about most Government projects built in a phase manner,'' she said, adding that she would prefer to see money spent across the board for converting the high schools.

She warned that if schools were not of equal standards, "which is the key to the (reform) plan'', the whole plan would fall through.

Noting that Government has a Feasibility Study of School Facilities report which identifies problems with schools' physical structures, Miss Smith said: "Since we have the funds, the least that can be done is work on those problems during the interim.''