Bermudians to hire non-Bermudians.

And Mrs. Veronica Clarke, whose Bermudian daughter applied for a physical education/history teaching post at the high school, told The Royal Gazette she would like to see Government step in and do something about the school's "unfair hiring practices''.

Mrs. Clarke said "several Bermudians'', including her daughter Hilary, applied for the job in early July.

But, she added, they were "informed of their failure on August 30, a few short days before the new school year begins''.

Now, Mrs. Clarke said, her daughter, who has a child and is married to a man whose work is seasonal, does not know what she will do.

She stressed that she had no doubt that her daughter, who received highest honours and the General Patton Award for outstanding student work in physical education from "one of the top-rated community colleges in Pittsfield, Massachusetts'' and graduated magna cum laude from Boston University, could have handled the job.

She said since graduating from Boston University, her daughter had also been involved in aerobics teaching, working with those in the Special Olympics, and was in charge of physical education at Montessori.

Pointing out that the history required for the Warwick post was first-year Bermuda history, Mrs. Clarke also said her daughter "was brought up steeped in Bermudian history, with parents members of the National Trust, and plenty of practical experience in her work capacity at summer camps, the classroom, and St. Brendan's Hospital''.

But she questioned the rationale behind Warwick combining physical education and history in a post.

"This job has puzzled me for years,'' Mrs. Clarke said. "It has always included history with physical education.

"I find this an anomaly since a top-grade, four-year, top-notch college degree from a very reputable college usually encompasses health, nutrition and physiology as related disciplines, not history.'' Mrs. Clarke also noted that the school was putting more emphasis on history for the post.

While Warwick Academy principal Mr. Bernard Beacroft agreed that it was not normal to combine a physical education and history teaching post, he said: "In this school the physical education teacher, at least for the girls, has been associated for sometime with teaching history.

"That has developed because the timetable has required people to teach physical education as well as history.'' Mr. Beacroft said the two subjects were taught back to back in the same week.

He added that Mrs. Clarke's daughter was interviewed, but she "was not qualified to teach history''.

But Mrs. Clarke questioned how the principal "whose salary is paid by the Bermuda Government'' was allowed to choose staff while teachers "in the majority of schools from pre-school to college level are sent from the Department of Education pool''.

Mr. Beacroft explained that as the head of a Government-aided school he had the authority to decide who should be appointed to a teaching post.

His choice was discussed with the Education Ministry, he further explained, and if that person was a non-Bermudian the appointment went before an Immigration board.

"That board makes the final decision on whether to accept my appointment or not,'' Mr. Beacroft said. "In this case, a work permit has been issued to the non-Bermudian.''