Parents of special students have expressed dismay and disappointment with Government MPs' debate of the new Education Act.

Bermuda Overcoming Learning Disabilities (BOLD) member Cherie Henderson, who was in the House of Assembly during the Education Act debate on Monday night, told The Royal Gazette she was "bitterly disappointed'' with passing of the Act.

BOLD had tried to get the Act delayed in order for amendments to be made to it.

The group claimed that the Act violated the Human Rights Act, and the Crown Proceedings Act which makes a Minister or public servant accountable.

BOLD members therefore called on the Minister to amend the Act to ensure that: Efficient educational facilities and programmes were available each year for students with and without disability; Appropriate public education was available to students with and without disabilities between the ages of three and 18 years; Parents or guardians of special children had the ability to examine all "relevant records with respect to the identification, evaluation, and placement of the child and to obtain an independent evaluation of the child''; and Parents or guardians had the opportunity to an "impartial due process hearing'' when they were not satisfied by the education their child was receiving.

But these and other amendments put forward by Shadow Education Minister Jennifer Smith were defeated.

Mr. Dill, however, did agree to either propose an amendment on the appeals process to the Act in the next session or prepare new rules for the Appeal Tribunal process.

But Mrs. Henderson -- who has an eight-year-old autistic boy -- said this was not good enough.

Noting that it took seven years to include disabled people in the Human Rights Act, the frustrated mother said: "I want to know what my child will have when he leaves school.'' "Some autistic people, in other countries, grow up and get their doctorate or law degrees,'' she continued. "But if he leaves here with the word modified on his education records, he's sunk.'' Mrs. Henderson stressed that neither BOLD nor the Autism Support Group, to which she belongs, expected the Education Ministry to do everything.

"But I have a problem with limiting what is possible here in Bermuda.'' She noted that she wrote Mr. Dill in May and requested that parents be allowed to attend teacher conferences on dealing with disabled students.

But she said she had not heard from the Minister.

Pointing out that parents could not always afford to go overseas to seek help, Mrs. Henderson said they could benefit from local conferences.

She noted that BOLD members were not expecting the Ministry to send all of their children overseas for treatment as suggested by Mr. Dill.

"I approached the Ministry a year ago and asked them to bring in someone for a year to help 11 children with autism,'' she recalled, adding that the Ministry had already brought in two specialists to work with a handful of blind and deaf children.

But Mrs. Henderson said she received a note from Education Permanent Secretary Marion Robinson stating that "it would be unreasonable to expect that this Ministry will employ a specialist on a full-time basis for each area of special need''.

However, she stressed that parents of special students were not about to give up.

"We all pulled together under the umbrella of BOLD for this,'' Mrs. Henderson said. "And we are not going away. We have plenty more to say. We will certainly be working in November to see if they do make the amendments for appeals and other things.'' BOLD member Ann Dunstan, who was also in the House on Monday night, said parents hoped to have more input on some of the rules of the appeals process.

"I would like to think that our voice will be heard,'' she added. "But I was very disappointed with the outcome of the debate.

"We're sorry that the ruling party did not listen to the very good amendments which Shadow Education Minister Jennifer Smith suggested.'' While noting that Mr. Dill handled the introduction of the new Act "very fair'', Mrs. Dunstan said parents disagreed with some of the information which was presented to the public as fact.

"The impression which was left is that everything is wonderful with our school system,'' she said. "While we're not saying that some very good things are not happening. It is not as wonderful as the Minister would have the public to believe.

"We've got to ensure that things change according to what they are saying.

They are taking children out of special schools and are putting them into a dumping ground.

"They may have exhausted other options of dealing with that child in Bermuda, but that does not mean that viable options do not exist.

"I'm glad that health insurance does not prevent people who cannot get specific health care here from going overseas. And I hope that none of these people that denied those amendments are ever unfortunate as some of these parents to have a child with special needs.'' Impressed with Ms Smith's "detailed'' examination of the new Act, Mrs.

Dunstan said: "She told it like it was.

"Jennifer Smith said what we feel, that all children are special, all have special needs and the assessment of those needs are crucial.'' Mrs. Dunstan also noted that she had not heard anything about provisions Government planned to make for gifted students.

"It was sad that many, many of the MPs were not even in the House to hear the debate and they just returned for the vote during the early hours of the morning -- when their minds could not be functioning -- to get it over with and go home,'' she said.

"It's sad that something so important to the future of this country was handled so casually.'' Parents of special students were not the only ones left deflated by the new Act.

Dellwood Primary PTA president Shirlene Simmons -- who also sat in the House on Monday night -- said she was not happy with Government's plan to move Dellwood Primary School to the current Northlands Secondary site.

But she admitted that she was resigned to the fact that "Government has made up their mind''.

"We just have to fall into place,'' she said with a sigh.