Campus police, alternative programmes, and an alternative school may help solve schools' security problems.

They were some of the suggestions that came out of a Bermuda Union of Teachers meeting this week.

BUT president Michael Charles said despite the stationing of security guards at high schools, there were still concerns about students' and teachers' safety and questions about the role of the guards.

"In some schools they understand that the officers are just there to stop outsiders from coming in, and not there for breaking up fights,'' he said.

Therefore violence in schools was still continuing.

While noting that some teachers reported they felt safer with the guards outside the school buildings, Mr. Charles said some teachers in the same schools had not noticed a difference.

"Kids are still coming in and out of properties. Just putting security officers there will not solve the problem.'' Those who suggested campus Police at the meeting explained that schools needed people who were trained to deal with children, "not people who will exacerbate the problems'', Mr. Charles said.

And he stressed teachers were facing "other deeper-rooted problems'' of children who cannot function in a regular school environment.

"Teachers are really looking for some avenue of removing the troubled kids so others can learn,'' Mr. Charles said. "We want to know what the Ministry's plans are for alternative programmes and alternative schools.'' The union hoped to meet representatives of various schools and the Association of School Principals after the Easter holiday so that when they met with the Ministry they will have a clear-cut vision of how schools could be made safer, Mr. Charles said.

He added he hoped a workshop on school security and discipline, held this week by the US National Association of School Principals, will also help.

"We've got to get something done. Hopefully we can come to some sort of accommodation with the Ministry.

"They may say that there are only little pockets of students causing problems, but these little pockets are creating havoc for the entire school population.

"They (troubled students) need some place where they can go to learn and function. We can't provide it. The regular classroom teacher is not trained to deal with such children. And if you don't do it now and you can't do it, what's the use of going up to CedarBridge where you're bringing the five pockets together?'' EDUCATION ED POLICE POL