How to raise standards

August 11

This is a letter sent to Philip Butterfield, chairman of the Interim Executive Board, set up to implement recommendations of the Hopkins report into education in Bermuda,

Dear Sir,

Please permit me to have your attention. I am a mother of four children who passed successfully through the public school system prior to 1990. Now I am a grandmother and two of my grandchildren are in the current school system. I have dogs in this fight!!

Firstly, let us look at statistics.

Approximately 30 percent of all births in Bermuda are to single mothers, some of whom are barely into their mid teens and possibly had to drop out or interrupt their education to deliver their babies.

There is a very high divorce rate which again increases the number of children being raised in single parent households, with or without assistance from the other parent.

Logically, only those children whose parents are married and financially stable can be expected to be enrolled in the fee paying private schools, where educational success is generally at a high average. Possibly these parents were well educated themselves and motivated and able to encourage and assist their students in reaching the required goals.

This would appear to exclude, for the most part, those children who find themselves in single parent homes, due to the financial hardships common to single parents, many of whom work two jobs to keep up with the high cost of essentials.

So we have established a likelihood that possibly as many as 60 percent of children in our public school system may be financially disadvantaged, parentally disadvantaged and possibly emotionally disadvantaged by the hardships of their family situation. Experience has shown me that such children are often angry, disappointed and easily distracted or led astray by their peers.

Under these circumstances, our public education system needs to provide, from the earliest point in each child's school career: Instruction in life skills; pro-active counselling and real encouragement, to ensure that in reality no child will be left behind.

There is no reason to suppose that persons who have dedicated their lives to the teaching profession are not truly making every effort to help their students learn, but in addition to good teachers, we must have for each class, a counselor/teaching assistant, who can provide lifeskills training, encouragement and support in basic learning skills.

Add to this a system which tests the progress of each student at regular and frequent intervals through out the school year, to assist in maintaining the level of achievement required for that year's syllabus and a clearly understood policy of recycling every student who does not achieve the required level of competence.

Better to do any level of primary or secondary education twice over than to fall steadily further behind your peers because you did not grasp the basics early on.

Nothing is more demoralising or discouraging than falling behind, but many children are afraid or unwilling, to ask for the help they need, parents may be unaware of the problem, or unable, due to their own educational shortcomings, to be of any help to their child. Disappointed, angry children act out and drop out, we have to save our kids from failure!!!

The system has to spot the problems early and provide the necessary help and encouragement to ensure that each student will succeed in learning all the basics he needs, to read and write good English, do basic maths and conduct himself in a manner which is conducive to employment on leaving school, for even the least able among our students.

Clearly the aim is to raise the standards of achievement across the board, for Bermuda has some of the healthiest and brightest youngsters on the planet, but they need direction and encouragement or they may simply grow like weeds and realize, only late in life, that they could have done so much more if the system had not let them fall through the cracks.

I do realize that this will probably require considerably more funds being put into the Educational System, but our children are our future, there is no better investment than in the health and education of our children. I doubt if there would be any protest from the community if we placed more emphasis on greater spending for teachers salaries and recruiting, training and paying good salaries to the support staff/counselors. It is not the buildings that matter, it is the people in them who inspire kids to want to learn and achieve.

Lastly, but probably quite as important, we need a really creative program for after school care and homework programs, so that kids are not let loose on the streets to wander home to empty houses before their parents can be home to feed and supervise them. The education budget should include funding for staff and materials for this. Did I mention text books?!!

This is a small enough community that we should be able to manage this, it is not rocket science and the island's future depends upon the success of ALL our children.

These comments, suggestions and requests are offered with only the best of intentions, with no criticism intended toward any persons, parties or organizations.

MARGARET DYER FORSTER

HAMILTON

These steps need fixing

August 17

This is a letter sent to Works and Engineering Minister Dennis Lister and copied to The Royal Gazette.

Dear Mr Lister,

I am writing to you to complain about the steps on the right hand side of Darrels Wharf as I feel that someone could really do some terrible damage to themselves.

My husband and I are here on holiday from Australia visiting family, and some friends of my sister-in-law very kindly took us out on their boat. As we were loading up the boat, my husband lost his footing as half of one of the steps is completely broken away. My husband fell and sprained his ankle very badly. We are on the last few days of our holiday and this incident has spoilt everything, and I am concerned that he will have trouble travelling on the airlines.

Not only locals, who may be aware of this, but also tourists, like myself, husband and daughter, use this Ferry Landing. I hope that this matter can be rectified as soon as possible before someone gets seriously hurt.

You will notice that I have also sent a copy of this email to the newspapers as I feel very strongly that everyone should be aware of this matter.

CHRISTINA BROWN

AUSTRALIA

Dale (Butler): It wasn't me

August 18

Dear Sir,

Sorry it was not me. I try not to do two things in my GP car. One to hold my cellphone and two overtake cars.

He uses a prominent first name which is mine and maybe I should not feel so guilty or over-react but I can assure you and the public that he was not talking about me.

I know this for fact because I have not been to the Hamilton Street clinic and I don't overtake or do green lights. It is not your fault that I am "over-reacting" but most people reading the letter like the five who called me....will think it was me.

Your policy should be...no license plate number no letter to the editor.

DALE BUTLER

MINISTER FOR

SOCIAL REHABILITATION

Editor's Note: Dale Earnhardt is a well-known Nascar racer. There is no connection with Dale Butler.

What a waste of money

August 19

Dear Sir,

I see that Dr. Brown has committed Bermuda as the Strategic Global Partner of the upcoming Chinese World Tourism Marketing Summit in Beijing. I suggest that this is a grotesque waste of taxpayer dollars and aims simply to feed Dr. Brown's ego and personal travel ambitions.

Given its schedule at the end of October, it also gives Dr. Brown the opportunity to be far, far away when the Privy Council meets on the BHC scandal!

We've heard for years how the Department of Tourism is cultivating new markets in far away lands - usually at great expense and always with little impact. Boondoggles like the Chinese tourism summit show how Bermuda's Department of Tourism is overly politicised and disconnected from the actual business of tourism in Bermuda.

GRAWLIX

SMITH'S

Keep carriage tours

August 15

Dear Sir,

It is with outright dismay and disappointment that I read that the City of Hamilton is considering a ban on the horse and carriage tour business. For many years the horse and carriage has provided a comfortable and serene alternative for people in Bermuda to tour the city as well as the rest of the Island.

The horse and carriage poses much less of a danger than the motorised vehicle in any environment, whether it is a city or a country road. The two incidents that took place earlier this year were an odd occurrence to say the least, as the records can attest to. For the City of Hamilton to eliminate this wonderful attraction based on unwarranted hysteria would be a profound miscarriage of justice.

The well-known horse and carriage operator Mr. Winfield Harley Tucker who recently passed away was a steadfast proponent of his trade, and was a welcome sight to see as he sat upon his pristine carriage through the years. Surely he would be turning in his resting place at even the mere thought that his beloved Bermuda would no longer welcome the horse and carriage to traverse these City streets.

MAUREEN PITT

SOUTHAMPTON

Disappointed by Zoom

August 6

This letter was sent to Zoom Airlines anc copied to The Royal Gazette.

Dear Sir,

I do not normally write letters of complaint but feel compelled to on this occasion due to the exceedingly poor service and customer care I received from your company.

My boyfriend and I had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Zoom to Bermuda and decided that we would book the flight for our summer vacation through Zoom.

We had heard a few stories about delays and so we called Zoom before booking our tickets to ensure that there were no issues. After being assured by the person that we spoke to at the call centre that there were no issues, we booked our flight on Zoom to London Gatwick, and then booked a connecting flight with another airline to our final destination, which departed from Gatwick two and a half hours after our expected arrival.

A few days after booking, a story was published in the local paper which mentioned delays for Zoom flights and the reason behind the longer flying times. My boyfriend and I were naturally concerned about missing our connecting flight and so went to 'C Travel' (the travel agency where Zoom's flights from Bermuda can be booked) to find out what was happening. They told us that they were not aware of any problems but they would call Zoom's call centre to make sure. The call centre representative told 'C Travel' that there were no problems with the flights and that we would arrive in Gatwick at the advertised time of 7.55 am.

A few days later I started hearing reports from friends that Zoom were indeed experiencing delays so again my boyfriend called the call centre. He explained what had been happening and was again told that there were no issues but that a supervisor would call us back the following day to discuss this. Nobody called. They also said that if there did happen to be a problem that we would be met by a representative when we got off the plane and that they would assist us with our connecting flight. There was nobody to assist us.

The day before we were due to depart I received an email from Zoom stating that the flight was going to be two hours longer and that we would arrive in Gatwick at 9.55. I called Zoom's call centre, explained everything once again and that we would now miss our connecting flight only to be told that Zoom was not going to take any responsibility, would not help us sort out the connecting flight and would not cover any costs that would be involved with us changing our connecting flight.

We arrived at the airport in Bermuda at 19.30 (our flight was at 21.30) only then to be told that the flight was delayed from New York. We eventually took off just before midnight.

We understand delays are a fact of life with air travel, but due to the flight time being two hours over the stated time, we still missed our connecting flight and had to wait in Gatwick until 18.30 until we could fly to our final destination and begin our holiday. We were also charged $60 each for changing our ticket to take a later flight.

Incredibly, we experienced the same problems on our return journey. The flight was due to depart at 12.30 and arrive in Bermuda at 15.15, but we actually took off at around 14.30 and did not get back to Bermuda until 21.00!!

It seems to me that Zoom have a serious problem with internal communication and with their customer care team (the first representative we spoke with assured us that the reports of longer flying times were rubbish and simply manufactured by Zoom's competition) and I feel highly disappointed that we have repeatedly been told incorrect information.

LUCY O'BRIEN AND ADAM FARRELL

PEMBROKE

My Southlands concerns

August 20

Dear Sir,

Highlighted by the way the Minister of the Environment has handled the application to develop the "Southlands" property, I propose that, effective immediately, the responsibility for matters of the Environment be separated from those for Telecommunications and E-Commerce. The person then given responsibility for the Environment should be a person who is qualified and interested in the many and complex issues that need to be considered before such development applications are 'ushered' through the Planning and Development process. Some of the facts that cause me real concern in the "Southlands" matter include:

- The Minister ignored the advice of experts and technical officers even though she says she spent much time deliberating the issue with her staff;

- The Government responded to the objectors of the "Southlands" development proposal (5,000 people who signed the various petitions, plus hundreds of letter-writers) via a propaganda-filled television programme that didn't even deal with the loss of open space and the overall effect this development would have on Bermuda. This programme made vague claims as to the national importance of the development, much of which has been strongly countered by the Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce.

- The Minister has made a mockery of its mission to protect the environment, as detailed in the mission statement on the Bermuda Government website.

Further, I propose that the remnants of the Sustainability Unit/Sustainability Roundtable be wound-up due to their complete impotence and silence on this, and all other related issues of importance to the protection of our environment. I think it would be entirely appropriate if the considerable sum of money spent on the charade called the Sustainability Initiative be reimbursed to the public purse; it seems quite obvious now that the 'show' was more of a public relations effort than a true commitment to the thoughtful and sustainable development of our island home.

KIM SMITH

PEMBROKE

Reassuring offer of help

August 19

Dear Sir,

I have been avidly following the impending arrival of Hurricane Dean to the Cayman Islands as my daughter

and I recently stayed with a wonderful host family there while attending a sporting event. Some of the devastation from the last major hurricane the Islands suffered through was still in evidence when we visited.

I felt great relief when I read the statement from the Governor of the Cayman Islands, Mr. Stuart Jack, where he assured the residents and visitors on the islands that "two Royal Navy vessels are following close behind Hurricane Dean and will arrive here on Monday afternoon to offer immediate humanitarian assistance, should it be necessary. We also have a UK Disaster Management expert arriving today.

He will work closely with the NHC to coordinate the humanitarian relief effort from the UK and other organisations, including the United Nations and Pan American Health Organisation."

What a reassurance to know that in the aftermath of such a powerful storm, there will be world wide organisations and the United Kingdom available to call upon for assistance. Unlike here, let's hope in their time of need, arrogant people will not refuse this assistance because of some ill-conceived notion that they can do it themselves especially since the help is offered from the " mother country".

JUST WONDERING

DEVONSHIRE