Teachers and other education workers threatened Government with industrial action yesterday if they continue to be left out of plans for reform in public schools.

The warning shot was fired at a press conference held by Bermuda Union of Teachers, the Association of School Principals and Bermuda Public Services Union about the implementation of recommendations from the Hopkins Report, a damning review of public education released earlier this year.

The three unions said they had come together as one for the first time in history to voice concerns that their members were being deliberately left out of a strategy to improve education.

Armell Thomas, president of the BPSU, which represents civil servants, said members of the unions would decide whether to take industrial action. “The mood right now is that their hands are up in the air and they ready to put their sneakers on,” he said, in an apparent reference to members being willing to strike. “They are very frustrated.”

The three unions, acting under the umbrella of Bermuda Trade Union Congress (BTUC), are angry at a decision to appoint Bank of Bermuda chief Philip Butterfield as chairman of an interim executive board charged with kick-starting an overhaul of the failing education system.

The appointment of the board was one of ten recommendations made in the Hopkins Report, compiled by UK professor David Hopkins and a team of education experts after a review commissioned by Education Minister Randy Horton. The review cost almost $[1/4] million — with half the cash coming from the Bank of Bermuda.

Yesterday, the BTUC claimed that experienced educators and others recommended by the three unions should have been appointed to the board — but instead have been left out of the process.

BTUC president Anthony Wolff, described powers given to Mr. Butterfield to appoint a consultant executive officer for the Ministry of Education as a “circumventing of the established protocol”.

BPSU general secretary Ed Ball added that it was wrong that applications for the post — which is currently being advertised — were to be sent to Mr. Butterfield and questioned why a person from the private sector had been given the authority to make appointments to a government department.

The new officer is being brought in for two years on an undisclosed salary to implement the education reforms. Lisa Trott, BUT president, said teachers were unclear as to what they would be doing. “There is some confusion,” she said.

The validity of the Hopkins Report was questioned yesterday, with Mr. Wolff claiming it made damning and sweeping statements unsupported by scientifically collected data.

“The review was concluded in five days,” he said. “Insufficient data was gathered to substantiate the findings listed in the review.”

The Hopkins Report called for radical reform at the “poorly led and mismanaged” Education Ministry, including an immediate change of senior personnel. Permanent secretary Rosemary Tyrrell was moved to the Ministry of Justice in May and former chief education officer Joseph Christopher has now retired following a stroke last year. Mr. Thomas said most senior positions in the Ministry were being filled by staff “acting up”. “They can’t be the problem,” he said. “If they are acting up, then the persons have gone.”

Government has not yet appointed a new permanent secretary or chief education officer. Policy analyst Alberta Dyer-Tucker is acting PS. Robert Horton, acting education PS while Ms Dyer-Tucker is on leave, said the Education Minister had carefully considered the questions and concerns expressed by the BTUC and would “in time offer a response”.