Government has selected an alternative school site for disruptive students.

And while Education Minister Jerome Dill would not confirm its location The Royal Gazette understands that it is likely to be the Bermuda Regiment's Warwick Camp.

Sources said officials from the Education Ministry had visited the camp and have held talks with Regiment Commander Lt. Col. David Burch and Capt. Larry Mussenden. Neither could be reached for comment.

But the Regiment has been suggested numerous times as the place for the Island's troublesome youth.

And Mr. Dill confirmed that a location had been found and the school would be "up and running very shortly''.

He was responding to claims that despite Government's admission that an alternative school was needed, they had not acted on two proposals for such a school.

The proposals were made by the Association of School Principals two years ago and by Opposition Sen. Neletha Butterfield earlier this year.

The idea of an alternative school has also been endorsed by the Bermuda Union of Teachers, parents, and MPs of all three political parties, including former Education Minister Clarence Terceira who had earmarked the former Woodlands School on Mount Hill, Pembroke for such a school.

However, that facility became a school for students with genuine behavioural disorders when Mr. Dill took over the Education Ministry. And he stressed the need to allow alternative programmes to work in schools before setting up an alternative school.

But recent outbreaks of violence in schools, particularly at CedarBridge Academy and at the Hamilton bus depot, forced both Mr. Dill and Premier Pamela Gordon to last week bring the issue of an alternative school to the forefront.

They have also requested a list of names of disruptive students from CedarBridge.

The students on the list, if involved in disturbances after being warned, will be taken out of regular schools and placed in the alternative school until they learn how to act in the regular school environment, they said.

If the students return to regular schools and continue to be disruptive, they will be expelled from the school system forever, they added.

But Sen. Butterfield -- who speaks for the Progressive Labour Party on education in the Senate and was acting Shadow Education Minister in Opposition Leader Jennifer Smith's absence -- said Bermuda already had the resources to help troubled student, but it was not making the most of them.

She suggested that students, after being assessed, could take courses three days a week at her CARE (Children and Adults Reaching for Education) Computer Services on the former base lands in St. David's and receive the necessary counselling during the other two days.

"These young people have to be put in a place where a learning environment still takes place,'' Sen. Butterfield said. "It's no good keeping a child out of his learning environment and trying to get him to fit back in.

"If he is having those social ills addressed, at the same time his learning must continue.

"Bermuda is full of resources. We have everything that we can put our fingertips on. But we do not utilise the resources that we have.'' Sen. Butterfield -- who has been working with high school dropouts, students who did not earn their high school diploma for various reasons, and prisoners for the past 14 years -- said about recent student disturbances: "These aren't problems that have just happened. It is important that we all work together, know who those resources are, and start doing referrals instead of waiting until it's too late.

"All we are doing right now is passing them from term to term and year to year with the problem still not fixed.

"Parents and teachers can tell us which students may have some serious academic problems later on.'' Referring to students who may be taken out of regular schools, Sen.

Butterfield said: "We have to realise sometimes there are problems with students because their academic skills are very low and we need to address that. How do we find out how low they are? We need to assess them. How do we find out what area they are low in? We need to assess them. We have a programme here that can assess students, find out the needs they have, and get right to that problem.

"A frustrated person is usually someone who is unable to read and comprehend.

And that's what we're seeing now.'' Special school being set up for disruptive students "On the other hand there may be some social problems, where the child's academics are good, but maybe the homesetting is difficult. There are a lot of single parents. There are two-parent households that are under stress. And when children see this in the household, they are affected too. Sometimes the only way they can express it is to act out.

"In terms of those students who need to be placed somewhere else. What we would do is get the information from the schools they are in and look at the curriculum we have here and match it with what the school is giving so that they don't miss anything in school and can be integrated back into the classroom.'' Sen. Butterfield pointed out that the education system in the UK had purchased $220 million worth of educational software from the same company which supplies her software.

Sen. Butterfield also estimated that 90 percent of CARE's students went on to further their education.

And she noted that CARE was among the alternatives recommended for students who could not get into CedarBridge.

The Bermuda College's Best Steps Programme, Government's Apprenticeship Scheme through the Labour Department, and the Adult Education School were also recommended.

But Sen. Butterfield said moving students to such alternatives required funding. She said she could not afford to take on more students without financial assistance from Government.

And despite CARE's accomplishments, Sen. Butterfield said the service was in danger of closing down since it had not received charitable status.

"We are looking to close the doors in December,'' she revealed. "I have applied for charitable status and been turned down. And all I wanted was a year to raise the money so that I can allow students to come here who cannot afford to come.

"I beg, I plea to the business people as well. We have a list of students who need help. But the parents don't have the money.

"We can't allow those students that are out of school to come here for free because we have operational expenses.'' If the Ministry accepted Sen. Butterfield's proposal, she said Government could help to cover those expenses.'' She stressed that people should stop viewing her as an Opposition senator and realise she is someone who wants to help Bermuda's youth.

"Just look at the track record,'' she said. "I'm not here playing any games.

I'm serious about the students learning. This is our third week here (for the new term) two parents have called already to say they've seen a change in their son's attitude.'' The ASP, in its proposal to the Education Ministry, recommended that an alternative school be organised and in place by September 1, 1996.

Among the reasons for such a school were: threats to the health and safety of students, teachers and principals; disruption to teaching and learning; Administration and staff did not have the skills to manage "extremely disruptive'' students and therefore this led to a high degree of burn out and stress; and highly disruptive students' needs could not be met through existing programmes, including Life Skills and peer mediation.

The ASP said a positive alternative learning environment should be designed to allow students to make several improvements, including: develop the capacity to see themselves as worthwhile; recognise the dignity, worth and rights of other individuals; develop basic skills in reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies; develop social skills including conciliation, persuasion, and honest communication; develop the ability to think through and deal with the possible consequences of their personal decisions and actions; and approach learning with confidence and joy.

Principals concluded by stressing the "urgent'' need for such a facility. And they said they would be "more than willing'' to work with the Ministry in developing an alternative school.

ASP president Livingston Tuzo could not be reached for comment. But Mr. Dill told The Royal Gazette that the ASP proposal was "merely a recommendation'' that he had already accepted.

And he said technical officers from the Education Department were still evaluating Sen. Butterfield's proposal.

"Hers is but one of a number of proposals,'' Mr. Dill said. "So obviously we have to properly assess it.

"Her proposal basically relates to using technology as an instructional tool.

It also basically provides a methodology of reinforcement of learning. "In and of itself clearly that does not cater to the same population that an alternative school will cater to.'' Mr. Dill said technical officers temporarily discontinued their evaluation of CARE at Sen. Butterfield's request because she believed they were interfering with her summer programme.

The evaluation was expected to resume this week, he added.

Mr. Dill also said Sen. Butterfield's suggestion about about students spending three days at CARE and having two days for counselling had not been proposed to the Ministry.

And he denied claims that his Ministry had rejected the idea of an alternative school.

"My position has always been that we would have alternative programmes operating within schools first then an alternative school,'' Mr. Dill said.

But he admitted that alternative programmes were easier to achieve and already in schools.

They involved removing a student from the classroom for counselling, but allowing them to return to the class.

He said: "The beauty of that is you never give a kid the opportunity of developing a sense of disconnectedness. It is also a far less stigma attached to it. It is for those two reasons that we decided that we were going to go with the alternative programme first, then the alternative school.

"The alternative school will be a separate school staffed with its own teachers who are trained in behavioural managements, teacher assistants, counsellors, probably a principal and administrative structure.'' Referring to the list of troublemakers he is expected to soon receive from CedarBridge, Mr. Dill said: "The initial thrust will be to get them out of the environment they are disrupting. The ideal place for them will be an alternative school which we will have up and running shortly. But in the mean time let's just get them out.''