The man in charge of maintaining CedarBridge Academy for the last seven years claimed yesterday he had been made a “fall guy” by the panel which probed the school’s mould crisis.

Ross Smith, 41, told The Royal Gazette his name had been “scandalised” in a report produced by the independent panel and that he did everything in his power to make the school a safe environment but was hampered by the Ministry of Education.

“In most situations like this, there has always got to be a fall guy,” said Mr. Smith, talking for the first time about the infestation which led to the school’s closure last November and which has been blamed for making staff and students sick. “If you look at the totem pole I’m the smallest one in the totem pole and, as they say, crap falls down the pole and I’m the bottom of the pole.

“I was a young man who was given a chance by this Government who are now turning around and kicking me in my backside.

“I feel that my name has been scandalised and I feel it’s only right that that I, as a young man, make this statement to clear my name because I have children.”

The father-of-two, who was facilities manager at CedarBridge from May 2000 until April this year, said he was unfairly criticised in the report produced by overseas environment expert Kamoji Wachiira and his two-man team.

The damning document claimed Mr. Smith did not have the technical qualifications needed for the job, was employed while a member of the school’s board of governors “without the normal competitive recruitment procedures” and failed to complete further training.

It blamed the mould contamination in part on “poor maintenance practices” including the lack of a proper maintenance plan and criticised inadequate record keeping for repair work and the fact that vital manuals were lost.

Mr. Smith, who previously worked in the power and facilities department at Cable and Wireless, said he quit the board of governors’ before applying for the facilities manager job.

“The job was then advertised in The Royal Gazette>and I applied by sending in my resume,” he said. “I was interviewed for the position. I was aware that I did not completely fit into the box but in most cases no one fits directly into the box. I had the experience and I had certain qualifications.”

He described CedarBridge as a “nightmare” building which was difficult to maintain because of mistakes during construction and claimed his efforts to get adequate funding were constantly thwarted by the Ministry.

Despite this, he said, when teachers began to complain about poor indoor air quality he repeatedly brought in Bermuda Water Consultants to conduct tests, all of which proved negative. “It was never ignored but if the company keeps coming back and saying there is nothing wrong, what could we do?”

Mr. Smith, of Sandys, said the mould problem was only confirmed when he brought a US specialist to the school last July who urged a cleanup over the summer.

That didn’t happen, according to the former facilities manager, because the Ministry of Education sat on the specialist’s report. The Wachiira Report found that the Ministry was sceptical of the report and “reluctant to go along” with it.

Mr. Smith said when Education Minister Randy Horton ordered the mould cleanup on November 1 he did not mention cost. The final bill for the work was close to $4 million, despite an original estimate of $375,000.

“I will honestly say this, and I will put this on my gravestone, I felt that I did the best job that I could do,” said Mr. Smith, who is now a senior maintenance manager at the Bank of Bermuda. “I think I did a very good job in taking care of that building.

“During my seven-year tenure at CedarBridge my performance was never put into question. If anything, I only got praise for the things I did. I have never received, ever, ever, a derogatory or bad report.

“It was a lemon that I was dealt. I got the lemon and for seven years I kept that building afloat. I got caught up in the political football; I have to say I don’t want to play.”

* See tomorrow’s edition of The Royal Gazette for teachers’ views on the Wachiira Report. Got something to say? Email sstrangeways@royalgazette.bm or call 278-0155.