Embattled education permanent secretary Rosemary Tyrrell has been moved out of her position days after a team of experts recommended the firing of senior Ministry staff.

Ms Tyrell (pictured), who has been in the post less than 18 months, has been reassigned to the Ministry of Justice as part of a Civil Service shake-up, Government announced yesterday.

It came as reports of a “wholesale firing of the entire senior team” were quashed by Education Minister Randy Horton.

Mr. Horton yesterday confirmed an interim executive board was being set up to implement the recommendations of a damning report into the state of education in Bermuda.

He said the findings of the review, led by British Professor David Hopkins, would be made publicly available shortly.

Ms Tyrrell had been on leave for one month before returning to the Island about a week ago. Media reports had speculated she had been in the US suffering with stress brought on by the mould crisis at CedarBridge Academy.

Ms Tyrrell was appointed education permanent secretary in early 2006, after spending 14 years as director of education at the Atlantic Union College of SDA in South Lancaster, Massachusetts.

However, the Ministry of Education has come across a number of high-profile difficulties in her time in the position, including the saga over the discovery of mould at CedarBridge which has dragged on for several months and prompted health fears from teachers.

Ms Tyrrell will be replaced by Alberta Dyer-Tucker as acting permanent secretary for the Ministry of Education, Sports and Recreation.

Another change announced by Civil Service head Kenneth Dill was Wayne Carey, permanent secretary for the Ministry of the Environment, Telecommunications and E-Commerce, moving to the Ministry for Social Rehabilitation, with Kevin Monkman, permanent secretary for the Ministry for Social Rehabilitation, moving in the opposite direction. In recent weeks, Prof. Hopkins and his team have been carrying out an investigation into why four of the Island’s public schools are failing and most of the others are merely satisfactory or worse.

Yesterday, Mr. Horton said the recommendations of the review had been accepted in principle and that working groups would be established across the education system to follow them through.

“Already we are making good progress in identifying the interim executive team, after which working groups will be established,” he said.

“I am concerned at some reports which give the impression that there is to be a wholesale firing of the entire senior team at the Ministry.

“While we agree that some action must be taken to correct weaknesses at the senior levels of the Ministry, it must also be said that we have valuable staff members who can play an important role in reforming the system.”