Here is what our readers had to say about the Ministry of Education deciding whether or not to consolidate schools:

Jenna Cleckley said: "As I update myself with the news back home, my jaw drops lower and lower. The prospect of closing schools should never be a thought or should I say slowly starving Bermuda's future should not be an option.

"Mr. James is saying to consolidate means larger class size, less attention to students that need attention. Overcrowding also has pressures.

I am speechless. there has got to be another way. I do not understand why my unique homeland now is blending in like the rest of the world. This is ridiculous.

"Start from the top. There should be no reason to touch the education of the children. They do not deserve it. A good parent, I sacrificed so that my children had what they needed, Government needs to do the same."

Renee Dill said: "I understand the business element of the decision being made. When saving money is the ultimate goal, heads have to be cut and resources have to be used to the best they can be used.

"Why pay rent on a building when we have buildings of our own and this is understandable. Just make the decision using the best resources out there. Do not make a harsh decision because we would be reverting to when they decided on doing mega schools and so forth.

"The Ministry needs to stay on the path they are on by educating our children with parent support of course, which means parents need to stop fully depending on the teacher to teach. Parents need to be teachers as well."

Danni Marie Maisonneuve-Adams said: "This is absolutely disgusting. It is not our children's fault that Government could not control their spending.

"So now they want to put our children's future at risk by cramming them into already crowded class rooms, over work the teachers that are already over worked and then call that a quality education.

"This is all because you need to cut cost and put some of your offices in these buildings cause of your mis- spending. Please rethink this as this is not the solution to your problems. Our children's futures are at stake here."

Angria Bassett said: "There has been a steady trend since at least the early 90s, that our students require much more attention and behaviour management than before.

"This I believe to be directly linked to the social decline in our community — inadequate supervision and parenting etc.

"I do not believe that closing schools and increasing student teacher ratio is going to improve our educational outcome. It will be a step in the wrong direction.

Christian Dunleavy said: "Time to pay the piper. All that overspending, un-tendered contracts, waste and hubris had consequences. It just took time to bite.

"You cannot have a sound social policy with a bankrupt economic policy."