This is an open letter to Education Minister Milton Scott and the powers that be. Please explain to me and the people of St. George's why people who live a five-minute walk from St. George's Preparatory School cannot go there.

My children go to the school. I choose the school because of its excellent record. The only other school they would have gone to was Saltus which had a long waiting list at the time. I have had several parents stop me looking for the answer to this question. The only thing we want is to be allowed to take the kids who have asked to come. I suggest Minister Scott come down to our school. "Oops, sorry I forgot it's not election time, you do not need our votes.'' So who cares, right? We have two P1 classes now, why can't we keep them? Just let us keep what we have.

I am a black Bermudian, born and raised in St. George's. My family has been in St. George's over 150 years. I will fight for the right of our children until doomsday.

This has nothing to do with East End, black, white, rich or poor. We just want our rights under the Education Act.

MRS. DENISE GARDNER PTA Treasurer St. George's Prep Class sizes irrelevant March 22, 2000 Dear Sir, As a teacher at and Principal of St. George's Preparatory School for a total of 30 years, I must protest against the Ministry of Education's latest nonsense. This school has a fine record of academic achievement, constant over the years, in spite of many nonsensical, imposed plans from various Ministers during those years. It remained, through all the experiments, idiocy and time-wasting practices, a school that had a splendid, caring group of teachers, a wonderfully interested and active group of parents and a fine group of young students, whom we all cared for and did our best for.

From the inception of integration in 1968, this school, unlike others in the system, went along with this totally necessary social step in education, without a word of dissent. From that moment to the present, its school population has mirrored the island's population mix and as such, has been a shining example of what was sought in 1968.

This school has always been over-subscribed at its point of entry and as Principal of the school, I hated the task of turning down any parent who had chosen the school as first choice. Last year, in a bumbling effort to convince the public of better education, two Primary One classes were created -- "smaller classes will increase academic performance'', it was said. My answer -- there was nothing wrong with our academic achievement with P1 classes of 25. Academic performance has nothing to do with class size, fancy buildings, imported learning materials from the USA, who rank close to the bottom of world education standards. It has to do with: 1. Good, dedicated teachers.

2. Good basic teaching of basic subjects.

3. Good parental support.

4. Good students, who want to learn.

All of the above we had and parents had the right to choose St. George's Prep., if they believed in our strategy. Now, we have X numbers of parents being forced to have no choice in school. Are we now a true dictatorship, rather than a democracy? Or maybe it's a maths game? Five years of classes at 15 per class equals a school of 75 students -- Oh dear, much too small to keep open! I truly hope that St. George's Prep parents will battle this arrogant injustice to the end, as the school has been a servant to the Country since 1875. Long live the Prep! M. MOORHEAD St. George's No caption