Penalising a school

March 26, 2004

This following letter was sent by the trustees of St. George's Preparatory school to Michelle Khaldun, Permanent Secretary of Education, and copied to The Royal Gazette.

Dear Ms Khaldun,

I refer to your letter of the 17th of March in which following our meeting on 24th February, the Ministry of Education has decided that St. George's Preparatory will be reduced to one P1 entry class.

This e-mail is sent to record our considerable disappointment and disagreement with this late decision. Further we wish to inform you that the trustees will be actively supporting the actions taken by the affected parents and the St. George's Preparatory PTA.

Parental Choice/Late Ministry Decision

The decision to have only one P1 class at St. George's Preparatory has been taken very late in this year's P1 entry process and after parents had made their selection in the belief that there would be two P1 classes at St. George's Preparatory. Of the 84 first choice selections in St. George's Parish, St. George's Preparatory received 47. This popularity is primarily due to the good academic results obtained at the school.

Even with two P1 classes of 15 we would have had to disappoint 16 sets of parents. With a single P1 class of 18 we have had to decline to accept 29. To reduce a successful school's intake is hardly the correct way to reward success and to promote confidence in the public school system.

In addition, in our opinion, this action disregards the provisions of the Education Act, which promotes parental choice especially in the case of primary students. If this decision is maintained then the Education Act needs to be returned to the House for serious Amendment.

Proposed Solution

The 84 first choice applicants for the East End schools requires five P1 classes not four. Four means that at least 18 five-year-olds will have to travel outside St. George's Parish to Primary school. Five-year-olds should go to their local schools where they can attend with their friends and be picked up from school by their relatives especially if both parents work.

Our proposal that both St. George's Preparatory and East End have two P1 classes each and St. David's Primary one eliminates this unnecessary complication, disruption and inconvenience to people's lives.

Just a problem for 2004/2005?

The Government Census for births indicates that this number of five-year-olds is not exceptional and that the number of five-year-olds for the next three years at least and probably longer is in the 80s. We believe this is due to a general population increase in the St. George's area over the last ten years which will increase further as more housing is added to Southside which is expected to be taken up by locals who will use the public school system.

St. George's Parish will require five P1 classes into the foreseeable future not four as proposed by the Ministry. Two at East End Primary, two at St. George's Preparatory and one at St. David's is the obvious answer now and for the next few years.

Accommodation at St. George's Prep

We do not share your concern that St. George's Preparatory is unable to provide the facilities for the consequences of a two P1 intake this year. We have had two P1 classes for the last four years and the current need for two P4 classes has only arisen due to the Department of Education's request in 2000 that we take in extra students for the current P3 class in their P1 year.

We feel somewhat betrayed in that our cooperation at that time to a Ministry request is being used unfairly to justify the removal of our second P1 class this year.

The current P1 and P2 classes are below the 25 number the Department believes is desirable for P4 to P6 classes and will not result in the need for two P4 classes in 2005 or 2006. Our experience over many years indicates that an intake of 30 at P1 reduces to acceptable levels by the P4 year.

We believe the current approach works and works well and would allow more parents to be granted their first choice and strengthen the confidence in the public school system even further.

Conclusion

In conclusion we believe that this decision has been taken far too late in the induction process, it has seriously and unnecessarily compromised the right of parents to chose the school for their five-year-olds, compromises the guidelines of the Education Act, penalises a school with good academic results, damages confidence in the public school system, ignores a population shift of parents who will use the public school system in St. George's, was taken with inadequate consultation with stakeholders and condemns a significant number of five-year-olds to school outside their community which brings considerable inconvenience and disruption to their parents and relatives.

It does not appear to have one redeeming feature and flies in the face of so much that the Ministry of Education says it wishes to achieve.

Request

Again we request that you review this decision even at this late stage and accept our proposal.

GARTH ROTHWELL

Chairman

TERRY BOWERS, GAIL BUTTERWORTH, JOAN DAVIS, WINSTON ESDAILLE, ANN SPURLING

Trustees

PLP politicians beware!

March 29, 2004

Dear Sir,

Standing politicians of St. George's North, St. George's West and St. George's South, please take note of the last election results: St. George's North - eight votes; St. George's West - 22 votes; St. George's South - eight votes. We, the voters in these constituencies are the parents of the children who wanted St. George's Preparatory School as their school of CHOICE. See you all at the next election, where we will truly thank you for your resounding backing of Mr. T. Lister.

WHERE TO PUT MY X

Make people wait

March 30, 2003

Dear Sir,

I would like to back up the gentleman on the radio on Tuesday March 30, 2004 on the Everest DaCosta talk show. The gentleman was giving his opinion on those people who think they are being nice by letting people out of intersections, stop signs or entry ways. What he was saying is so true, I experience it everyday and it is so frustrating letting people out and holding up traffic especially during rush hour in the mornings and evenings, one particular spot where I have even seen an accident occur is at the stop sign at Strawberry Hill on to Harbour Road. People need to stop doing this practice and make people wait for their turn to be able to pull out.

Those days of being nice or courtesy have gone. The roads could be safer and help the flow of traffic if people would stop doing this practice.

ZOOM ZOOM

Warwick

For the wealthy only

March 19, 2004

Dear Sir,

Thanks for allowing me a space once again in your column.

I am very much disappointed in Sir John Swan who I've always admired when I heard he was building apartment homes. I was more than sure it would be for Bermudians and to help his own. But the price and the high quality of Atlantis lets us all know it's for the wealthy folks and that leaves out most of us who where born and raised here. As always its about lots of money.

As the saying goes money talks. He could have built apartments on a lesser scale and had the apartments as rent to buy but as always, Bermudians are put on the back burner. The rich want to get richer while the folks down the ladder must keep on struggling because our own people come last in there own country. If there was ever one person who would share a vision about providing low cost housing for Bermudians, I thought John Swan was the man.

Mr. Wilbur Warner, Sr. made a comment in the newspaper a few weeks ago that why should Government supply houses for its people? Of course he owns his own house. Mr. Warner, everybody is not as fortunate as you are and Government has a department called rent control. Whose rents are they controlling and I wonder what they are doing? They are sure not doing what their title says. Rents are out of control. The haves will always have and the have-nots will always have-not. It's how the whole system is runs. The PLP is for themselves and their cliques.

VOTER WHO MAY NEVER VOTE AGAIN

Paget

‘Forgotten people'

March 19, 2004

Dear Sir,

An open letter to all the ruling party politicians. You claim to be the people's party yet you are avoiding the people, the very people who helped to put you (the PLP) in power.

The people I'm talking about are those who are out there living in cars, caves, tents and tool sheds. I don't see or hear about any politicians going out there to offer help to these forgotten people. Where's the heart, don't any of you ministers care? I don't think so, if you did I wouldn't have to write this letter.

Whenever someone is evicted from their home, again no politicians present. Only election time you go around knocking on doors. You've given yourselves a raise in salary. Aren't you forgetting something, you work for us, we don't work for you. Your party needs a transformation or the next election, three strikes and you are out, don't play games with our lives.

Premier Alex Scott found time to visit the local army troops in Jamaica, but could not find the time to meet with people living in cars and caves and tents.

The money spent on the useless trips to Jamaica could have been used to aid these forgotten voters who have fallen on hard times. I get the feeling we're living in a police state. The army gets more publicity, almost on a weekly basis. The people mentioned above get no attention in the news media.

GEORGE BURCHER

Hamilton Parish

Puzzling pictures

March 17, 2004

Dear Sir,

I refer to one of your front page articles in The Royal Gazette, Wednesday, March 17 titled ‘Out of Harmony' concerning promotion photos of Harmony Club on the Expedia website that were actually taken outside Bermuda. This reminded me of a puzzling advertisement on the website www.luxurylink.com which is a site offering special deals and auctions of prestige vacations worldwide. One of the vacations on offer is at Waterloo House and this particular offer is headlined ‘Overlooking brilliant pink sands and turquoise seas, Waterloo House...' extremely puzzling as the nearest brilliant pink sands would be at Elbow Beach?!

DOROTHY C. WOOLGAR

Paget