There are lots of stories and rumours floating around about Whitney Institute Middle School right now — and really it's no wonder.

Since the announcement by the board of trustees on May 19 that Whitney would close unless urgent repairs were carried out to the news at the end of last month that it would stay open after all, there seems to have been numerous disagreements between Government and the school, countless decisions made and unmade.

To the average person reading every twist and turn in The Royal Gazette orwatching the television news, the endless to-ing and fro-ing is confusing, to say the least.

But for parents of current and prospective students at the dilapidated school, the events of the last few months have been deeply worrying. Indeed, some are so disturbed they have decided to withdraw their children from the school.

Teachers are likewise concerned but not surprised that what one source described as a "haemorrhaging building" — one with rats, termites, leaking ceilings and exposed wiring — has finally been declared unsafe.

One story doing the rounds about Whitney is no mere rumour — a heavy light fixture did recently crash down onto a classroom desk which a child had been sitting at not long before.

And it wasn't the first time the shoddy condition of the facility had become startlingly apparent. A June 24 press release issued by the trustees — who could find themselves liable should any person be injured on the site — cited a ceiling collapsing due to a leaky roof in 1999 and exposed pipes and wiring posing an "imminent danger" in 2003.

It's also true that the school does not have working fire alarms. As one close observer noted: "Middle school students and no fire alarms? That's a recipe for disaster."

Those close to the 125-year-old school claim Government has known for well over a decade that it needed to spend serious money on Whitney.

They say it was in a bad way under the United Bermuda Party and has remained so under the Progressive Labour Party.

But repeated requests for the capital needed to restore the Smith's school went unanswered, according to the trustees, and Whitney had to stand on the sidelines watching while the other four public middle schools were upgraded.

More than two years ago the Whitney Educational Trust took matters into its own hands and announced a $35 million plan for a complete rebuild.

Planning approval was granted in October 2006 but the question of who would pay for the work was never resolved. The trust applied for a loan with the repayments and interest to be covered by a lease with Government for the site.

The loan was approved subject to the lease being agreed — but it never was. At the start of this year, the dangerous state of the school reared its head again.

This newspaper has seen minutes of a January 29 meeting attended by Education Minister Randy Horton at which he admitted the school was not in a good condition. He promised to discuss the problem with Cabinet and find a solution. His parting words to those present? That they could hold him to his word.

Sources say the Minister has displayed a genuine commitment to trying to get the school fixed — but Mr. Horton is not the only personality involved in these negotiations and Whitney not the only problem he is charged with resolving at a time when public education is agreed to be in crisis.

Almost five months after the January meeting, the trustees and management of Whitney were frustrated at the lack of action. A salvo was fired on May 19: an announcement from them that the school was to permanently close due to safety concerns.

Days later, the Ministry of Education released a brief statement saying the two sides had met, an agreement had been reached in principle and the school would stay open.

Then everything went quiet. Government may well have been thinking long and hard about the huge amount of money needed to save Whitney and was clearly considering how to safeguard its investment.

If it was cautious to commit the funds, it's perhaps understandable. The Berkeley Institute, another aided school with a board of governors, was in a similar predicament six years ago and the cost of its new building spiralled out of control, earning Government intense criticism and a bill for millions of dollars more than it had budgeted for.

Behind the scenes, a flurry of correspondence was under way. On June 17, Acting Education Permanent Secretary Radell Tankard e-mailed the trustees to ask them to agree that Whitney would stay in the school system for five years or they would repay Government for the cost of repairs.

Mr. Horton wrote on June 19 telling them that he was to ask Cabinet the following day for $3 million to get the school safe in time for September — and again asked for the five-year pledge.

But the school, it seemed, had tired of the ongoing negotiations and felt the request for a commitment was unnecessary and unprecedented.

In a move which appears to have incensed Mr. Horton, school principal Freddie Evans sent a memo to staff on June 20 telling them to prepare for the school's closure on June 30.

On June 23, Mr. Horton wrote to say that Dr. Evans' actions had forced him to issue a formal notice requiring the trustees to commit to carry out certain works to "remedy the circumstances which create this dangerous and unsafe situation at the school".

Chairman Tom Davis replied the next day explaining that Dr. Evans was "trying to manage his staff's expectations and prepare them for the worse case scenario, like any good manager would do". His letter said the Ministry was responsible for the state of the school due to inadequate aid over the past several years.

The "protracted negotiations", as described by the Minister, were still far from over. Mr. Horton replied the same day to say he had no choice but to withdraw the school's certificate of registration.

As the correspondence raged, Whitney's 300 students and 40 staff were left wondering where they'd be studying and teaching come September 3. One female staff member said teachers heard about the decision to withdraw the school's registration on the television news.

What happened to break the impasse is unclear but on June 29 a joint statement was issued announcing that the school would be saved after all.

Some of the finer details of just how that will happen will hopefully be revealed tonight — but those attending the meeting may be forgiven for being reluctant to pin their hopes on Whitney reopening.

The trustees are understood to have no desire to see the school close or to take it into the private sector; Government is unlikely to want to see one of its best-performing middle schools shut just as it launches a plan to create clusters around middle schools.

Everybody wants Whitney to stay open. But whether the two sides can resolve their differences remains to be seen.

* Are you a Whitney parent or teacher? Send your thoughts to news@royalgazette.bm.