Government has sent out a progress report on its education reform plans.

And with the report, which was mailed to 27,000 households this week, was a 15-page booklet with detailed questions and answers about restructuring.

Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira noted that the documents were ready to be mailed three months ago.

But he said it was held up by Government's review of the Dellwood/Northlands situation "in case it was necessary to make any changes''.

He also explained that this was the reason why the question on road crossing safety at Northlands did not mention Government's plans to build an underpass to protect students from traffic.

The questions, which were brought up in 22 public and school meetings between February and June last year, touched on issues ranging from schools' curricula to security at the senior secondary school at Prospect.

They included: Will construction be going on when schools are in session? Will Dellwood be the only school which is fully accessible? Will students be required to take entrance exams for senior school placement? What will happen if one of the senior schools is oversubscribed? Will students be able to transfer between middle schools if they move out of their feeder primary school zones? How will student security at Prospect be ensured? How will the system's loss of young black males be addressed? What is the policy regarding teaching about homosexuality? When will Portuguese be introduced as a modern language? What will be the graduation requirements at the senior level? Will GCE exams be abandoned? If so, when? and Will Berkeley's and Prospect's curriculae be the same? In response to the above questions the Education Ministry said construction will be going on while schools are in session.

"Alterations and additions are designed so that they can be safely isolated from the student areas and any operations which will cause major disruption will be scheduled for school breaks,'' it said.

Dellwood will be the only middle school that is "totally accessible'' to those with physical disabilities. However, the Ministry said, there will be one accessible primary school in each of the five families of (primary and feeder middle) schools.

But, the Ministry admitted, two wheelchair-bound students at Dellwood may need to transfer to "another fully-accessible school'' when Dellwood moves to the Northlands site which is not fully accessible.

According to the Ministry, no entrance exam will be required for senior school placement under the reformed public system.

And if one of the two senior schools is oversubscribed, "a random selection will be made to determine who will be offered places at the oversubscribed school''.

If students move to a new residence that is a "significant'' distance from what would have been their middle school, consideration will be given for the student to transfer to a different middle school.

The Ministry said the new school at Prospect would have electronic security throughout, "including video surveillance in some areas''.

In addition, it said, the school design lends itself to ease of supervision during class changes and at recess times.

"Every effort will be made to control public access to the campus,'' the Ministry stressed.

Many of the restructuring proposals were aimed at dealing with the issue of black males falling through the cracks, it said.

"Provision of craft design and technology courses will encourage more males to remain in school,'' the document states. "Sensitivity to, and emphasis on, multi-cultural issues is a major concern in the development of our curriculum and training/upgrading of our teachers.

"Particular emphasis will be given to the African aspects of our heritage. It is anticipated that these changes will encourage the retention of black males in schools and will lead to improved achievement.'' The Ministry said it was also studying the issue of teaching Portuguese in schools.

Noting that sexuality was already taught in schools, it said "guidelines for dealing with sensitive issues (such as homosexuality) are currently being developed''.

The curriculum steering committee was still addressing the issue of graduation requirements at the senior level, the Ministry said. And GCE exams would be abandoned when the curriculum was put in place.

It also noted that the curriculum at Berkeley Institute and the senior secondary school would be the same. But Berkeley "will not have the physical facilities for all of the options in the technology programme''.

Throughout the booklet, the Ministry repeatedly stressed the ability of the senior secondary school to offer a "greater variety of technological courses'' than the Berkeley Institute.

The booklet and restructuring report can be found in the reference section of the Bermuda Library.