Grandiose and costly

March 31, 2006

Dear Sir,

There are times when I do not agree with Andrew Trimingham but when it comes to the new City of Hamilton plan I have to say he has hit the nail on the head. While I applaud the Corporation of Hamilton for trying, this new plan is far too grandiose and costly for Bermuda and appears to have been put together quickly without much real thought for the overall needs of the City.

My first suggestion would be to excavate the City Hall car park and build as large a parking garage as could be practical and aesthetically pleasing, perhaps with the new civic centre on the top. I believe the concept of underground parking along the waterfront is far too costly, problematic and unnecessary. Create a new park between the flagpole and the ferry terminal with the ultimate aim begin to eventually extend as far as the Cabinet Building. I like the idea of Front Street as a boulevard, with one way lanes and please, somewhere, a bicycle right of way. A marina in front also makes sense provided it does not project too far south. I see absolutely no reason to reclaim land for housing or office construction, we have the north of Hamilton crying out for redevelopment. I seem to recall that Marsh Folly was supposed to become a park to enhance back of town, have we abandoned that plan?

The biggest quandary is now to solve the dock and cruise ship issue. As the vast majority of freight is destined for the Hamilton area it is environmentally sensible to leave the docks where they are and perhaps create a container storage area north of the city within minimum trucking distance. Future freight volumes could be accommodated by extending the working hours on the dock and trucking containers at night.

I suspect that the cruise ship operators all want to come to Hamilton. In a few years most of the ships will be too big to get into the harbour and we can berth them at dockyard or in Grassy Bay and the passengers can use our ferries. If they don?t like that idea, too bad, we can learn to live without them. Dr. Brown, please do not ever consider using dynamite on Two Rock Passage.

Thank you for the space Mr. Editor, I don?t have all the answers but I am trying to be realistic: I don?t think the new City plan is.

Face facts, it?s cruel

April 4, 2006

Dear Sir,

I should like to congratulate Eugene O?Connor, Jr. for his excellent letter in yesterday?s paper. He wrote on the subject of the cruelty involved in bringing wild animals, such as lions, tigers and elephants by sea to Bermuda to participate in a circus.

I don?t know or care who ?DNA? are. They also must be dumb, deaf and blind not to have noticed from the media, that this kind of activity is deplored in our supposedly enlightened age.

A few years ago, I was at my office on the corner of Front and Queen Streets, when I looked out of the window and saw a magnificent, pathetic tiger in a cage too small for him to turn around in heading up Queen Street, where he went on display at the filling station for days in the sweltering heat and with children poking sticks at him. This was all under the sponsorship of our own supposedly worthy Lions? Club.

There may still be time for our Minister of the Environment to put a stop to this cruelty. It requires, surely, just one stroke of the pen. Hundreds of animal lovers will thank her and the publicity will be good for Bermuda.

You call this service?

March 31, 2006

Dear Sir,

I am writing in extreme concern at a situation that has arisen just moments ago.

I received a telephone call from my daughters who are stranded at a bus stop. Why, you ask, are two young children in Bermuda stranded? Because the Public Transportation Board?s acknowledged policy is to not accept the legal tender of this country in payment of services. It is apparently not possible to pay for a bus fare in Bermuda using legal tender.

When I called the Public Transportation Board?s dispatch office at 2.45 p.m. today, I spoke with an extremely rude gentleman, who, after telling me, with unnecessary volume, point blank that he didn?t care whether the policies of the board are illegal or legal, hung the phone up in my ear. (Which in itself speaks volumes).

This is the New Bermuda, is it? This is the way we care for our children, not to mention the tourists who come there expecting, for some reason, that the legal tender of a country would be honoured by the public works department of that country.

What are we doing here? What sort of place are we trying to become? For whose benefit is this (illegal) policy? Certainly not for the poor commuter who has to walk about with pounds full of coins in their pockets in order to take a bus. Not for the poor mother of three young children trying to get a bus from St. George?s to Town, who winds up with strained back muscles trying to juggle children, strollers, and heavy bags of change to pay for their fare. Not the public in general who would wish to have fewer cars on the road, and fewer pollutants in the air. I, for one, will not be giving up my car for public transport.

Is this the sort of ?service? we are supposed to become accustomed to? No wonder taxi drivers make such a comfortable living. At least they will accept money in payment for their services.

I would write more on this topic, but I have to leave my job to go collect my children who have been let down by this rather questionable policy.

Right on the mark

April 2, 2006

Dear Sir,

I have just read the letter from ?36-year-old Married Mother of Three? in the March 26 edition of . It was articulate and right on the mark! Kudos to the writer for her public condemnation of poor parenting. Let?s hope she is heard by both those ?hard-done-by? folks in society for whom their hardship is always someone else?s fault, as well as by those in Bermuda whose shout of ?racism! ? is a reflexive action in explanation of every ill that they or their children sustain.

Education in Bermuda

March 13, 2006

Dear Sir,

Please allow me the opportunity to exercise freedom of the press in a ?responsible? manner. My response is to the claims made about education in Bermuda, specifically public education and teachers. I would rather not place too much emphasis on the annual rhetoric that is levelled toward teachers and public educational leadership within the Ministry by our political representatives. Every educational debate in the annals of the political arena has engendered the same rhetoric for the last 15 years from political leaders. I would like to add substance to some of the proposed solutions and observations. I would venture to say that many of the solutions have been presented, suggested and recommended in the past to Ministers of Education dating back to 1987.

In response to the lack of men in the public education system, I hope the recruitment scheme has as its requirement men of strong character, ethics and conviction. Added to the requirement they must have a proven record and a demonstrated portfolio of believing in the ability of all young people to learn.

Public education does not need men from Bermuda, in Bermuda, who have degrees, but lack a confidence in establishing a quality partnership with assertive women and strong men. It is not enough to just invite Males in Education, but there must be an aggressive and assertive human development model applied that influences men of Bermuda at home and overseas that they are an investment for the educational development of youth in Bermuda.

This investment package would represent a 21st Century model that has attached to it attractive financial incentives, reward systems and an evaluative and compensation system (I will say more about this system in response to political alarmist in the House) that complements academic quality that Males in Education could bring. This would be consistent in counteracting the belief that men do not pursue the field of education as a profession because in comparison to other professional fields, the pay scale is of lesser value. Also, a focus of the Males in Education recruiting must be directed to encouraging men to teach at the elementary levels. The human development model would also internally produce future Males in Education through Mentor-Mentee Teach for Bermuda. These future male teachers can be identified as early as the Middle School level. College scholarships can be attached as incentives to go into teaching at least a three-year period. The fathers in the Child Development Programme can also through educational training and this may be happening, become trained and certified reading specialist coaches/teachers.

The Males in Education recruitment must not have a narrow vision of recruitment for males as teachers solely for the daily structure of classroom teaching. A great resource of Males in Education can be found in the coaching fraternities, particularly in football, track, and cricket. Linked to these untapped human resources are men who are quality coaches, however, they must be influenced that they can transfer their confidence as coaches and leaders to attaining the degree and teacher certification necessary to become a teacher. Males in Education, affiliated with many of our social and sports clubs, can extend the education day not only as coaches, but as coaches/teachers in after-school programmes that are associated with Government and their respective club programmes.

Many Government after-school programmes lack functional programming that has as its purpose developing the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. This concept can be duplicated in the multiple church communities of Bermuda. Having used this approach, the recruitment of men would have integrated the three cultural institutions of school, church, and sports clubs (add a fourth, families) that shape the lives of Bermuda?s people.

As recently as April 2005, a human development model using football as the vehicle was proposed to the NDC to bring coaches together to achieve the goal of recruiting Males in Education. There is another programme in addition to what is proposed. The concept of Males in Education must not be limited to the narrow focus of formal education. It must also include informal education.

The informal education is best captured by applying the recruitment of Males in Education to design and develop a Boarding school model that is ?outside the box? thinking. This concept too has been a 15-year subject of political rhetoric. The idea of this boarding school as it provides a new concept toward schooling for all of our boys, ages 12 to 17, would also call for the redesigning of our juvenile detention homes and Co-ed facility, placing many of the young males in an environment of learning with Males in Education who are committed to a concept of schooling that is non-traditional in structure, development, and curriculum design-an adventure-based curriculum design.

I am confident that the alleged 18 percent males represented in Bermuda?s education system can be increased to at least a minimum 40 percent Males in Education providing there is an openness to a paradigm shift as outlined and advocated in the human development model.

In response to the argument for teachers? salaries to be linked to performance, I would like to propose a solution of substance. Understanding that the Ministry of Education has a system to address teachers identified as mediocre, teachers who are above average, and teachers who are excellent, it is apparent that the system has very little influence on enhancing the growth of teachers, and equally important the academic growth of students. I believe, in Bermuda?s education system an Evaluation and Compensation system based on Value-Added progress and the Danielson?s Framework for Teaching must be instituted to not only enhance teaching, but also raise student achievement. More can be said about the Evaluation and Compensation for those serious leaders of education in Bermuda open to a mutual dialogue (public or private dialogue) in the future. This is a system that for the first time considers student learning results-outputs along with multiple input measures through an improved observation process. Linked to the observation process is a compensation model for teachers based on their position, knowledge, and skills in the field. We have teachers who are at an apprentice level, career level, advanced level, and distinguished levels of teaching. Each brings with them their levels of position and status a responsibility and accountability, to the learning gains of students. This compensation model is not merit pay, it is increased pay based on professional growth aligned with student achievement.

This implies that action researches about what we do well, with additional incentives warranted to those in positions of demand, such as math and science teachers, and special education teachers linked to reading and writing must be implemented.

With this Evaluation and Compensation system, it will hold accountable the leadership of the Ministry of Education and the Bermuda Union of Teachers to be copartners in attaining the excellence that we know our teachers, administrators, and students can achieve. It will also require of the Ministry of Education ?leadership? to do something it has never done under any government. It will require the Ministry of Education to exercise school inspections (I prefer curriculum audits) for ?All? schools in Bermuda, public and private.

Accomplishing Males in Education in the classroom, along with growth in our teachers, administrators, and students will be a test of our will and conviction to ?sit down and talk about it.? Then after some talk, we can stand up and act!

No eye protection

April 5, 2006

Dear Sir,

I could not help but notice that Kion Knight, recipient of Butterfield Bank?s squash scholarship as part of Children?s Health Week, is shown on today?s front page playing squash without protective eyewear. Health promotion includes injury prevention. Considering that squash is associated with a high incidence of eye injuries compared to other sports, I feel the Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters has missed a prime opportunity to deliver an important injury prevention message to our children.

Kion?s failure to wear eye protection is even more disturbing when one considers that the United States Squash Racquets Association (USSRA), the body that sanctions the tournament, includes the following in its Protective Eyewear Policy (I note that the policy applies to participants at all events in the United States including tournaments, exhibitions, clinics and leagues which are sanctioned only by the USSRA or organised by its member districts):

All players and coaches must wear protective eyewear whether playing singles or doubles, hardball or softball squash during all activities that take place on the court involving racquets and balls at USSRA-only sanctioned events.

Players under 19 years of age participating in Junior competitions internationally must wear approved eyewear at all times.

Finally, Bermuda?s young squash players and their parents should take the following statement, also from the USSRA Protective Eyewear Policy as sound advice: ?The risk of eye injury in racquet sports such as squash is ?high? according to the American Academies of Ophthalmology and Paediatrics, the American Optometric Association, and eye care professionals who have studied sports eye injuries. Fortunately, these injuries are almost totally preventable with appropriate protective equipment.?

It?s geography!

April 4, 2006

Dear Sir,

In the continuing public furore caused by the repeated failure of the Bank of Bermuda to obtain planning permission for its proposed new building on the site of the bankrupt Trimingham?s property, much invidious comparison has been made with the nearby A.S. Cooper building. (obviously they pulled a few strings etc.)of April 4 carried an admirable and accurate explanation by the Planning Department as to why The A.S. Cooper Building will not appear higher than the bank?s proposal. There is, however, a much simpler way to explain the disparity in height: ?The A.S. Cooper building is built on the top of a hill, the bank?s proposed landmark is at the bottom of the same hill.

It?s not magic. It?s not cheating. It?s not who you know. It?s geography!