after only four months on the Island, an Education Ministry official confirmed yesterday.

"It's quite unusual,'' said Mr. Ray Latter, the Ministry's senior manager of human resources.

"They were a small group who became friends and they all became disenchanted and they've left,'' Mr. Latter said. "That's my understanding.'' One of the five, Mr. Gareth Balch, said "complete mismanagement'' in the Education Ministry was the main reason he resigned -- not the fact he was assaulted by a student at Whitney Institute on October 20.

"I'm going back unemployed, I've got debts of 2,000, and we'll be living with my in-laws,'' Mr. Balch said of himself and his wife Michelle.

The couple left the Island on Tuesday.

"I'm doing that for a reason. I have no faith in this education system to handle me properly.

"My main reason for leaving is the complete incompetence in our handling by human resources,'' Mr. Balch told The Royal Gazette .

And he says he will sue if the $3,500 cost of the couple's trip to Bermuda is deducted from his final paycheque, as the Ministry says it will be.

Mr. Balch, 35, who was finding it difficult to live in Bermuda and meet obligations in the United Kingdom on his school salary of about $48,000, said he was told his wife would have "no problem'' finding work as a secretary.

She has been unable to work and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown when she left Bermuda, he said.

Disenchanted teachers quit, leave Island From Page 1 Mr. Latter agreed that an official in his department made that comment based on a secretarial course Mrs. Balch had completed. But the official was unaware she had no experience to go with her credentials, he said.

Mr. Balch said problems began when his airline tickets were not sent to England and he had to buy his own. Then, in separate incidents, both his luggage and his X-rays were lost for a month before they were "discovered'' in Bermuda. Mr. Balch said he learned Customs had informed human resources of the arrival of his baggage much earlier, but he was never informed.

"There were three mistakes that were made by my staff, and I accept responsibility for those mistakes,'' Mr. Latter said.

But many of his other complaints related to housing problems, which were the responsibility of the Ministry of Works & Engineering, he said.

The main reason Mr. Balch decided to leave was the emotional and financial constraints created by his wife being unable to work, Mr. Latter said. "She didn't like sitting in their empty apartment, and he felt he had to leave or his marriage would break up.'' Of the five guest workers who arrived in September and have opted to break their contracts, Mr. Latter said four were secondary school teachers and one was a speech therapist.

Two departing teachers cited financial constraints, one received "a better offer'', one was lonely, and the other said the job "wasn't professionally challenging,'' he said.

"We are now advertising for some replacements.'' In October, Mr. Balch was struck in the head with a rock thrown by a Whitney student. That incident was not related to his departure, he said, though he was unaware of a Ministry decision to "dump all the kids with special needs in all the secondary schools'' starting September 1.

At Whitney, that meant an extra 25 to 28 students, many of them with "serious behavioural problems,'' he said. "Whitney is an excellent school trying to struggle with impossible circumstances,'' he said.

Mr. Latter said Mr. Balch was told of the Ministry's "inclusion'' policies in interviews before he was hired.

Mr. Balch said he was also told he would be teaching in a "comprehensive'' school system -- meaning one which accepted students of all abilities. But, "it's not comprehensive,'' he said. "It's lower ability intake.

"The higher ability kids go either to the private schools or to Berkeley Institute.'' Education Minister Jerome Dill did not return telephone calls from The Royal Gazette , but the restructuring of the system which is now in progress is intended to end Bermuda's "selective'' system for placement in public secondary schools.

As for making Mr. Balch pay what it cost him and his wife to fly to Bermuda, "he made the decision to break a contract and leave early'' and Mr. Balch's contract spells out penalties, Mr. Latter said.

However, Mr. Balch said he never saw, let alone signed, a contract, and Mr.

Latter admitted "it is possible he did not see a contract''.

Still, there was a verbal contract, and "although he didn't actually sign a contract, he accepted the terms and conditions of his contract by accepting his salary,'' Mr. Latter said.

"We have to treat people equitably,'' he said. "Unfortunately, equitably does not always mean compassionately.'' Mr. Balch said: "I've written to the Accountant General and said that if there is any attempt to do (deduct the $3,500), there will be legal action.''