self-esteem. The thrust behind the two-school secondary plan, which included Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy, was to stop this almost automatic branding of the students.

Now, because we have had some incidents in the schools, we are rushing to talk about an alternative school for disruptive students. Schoolyard fights are nothing new and used to be dealt with by a caning by the head teacher. Now we send for the Police and the students wind up with a criminal record.

We know that there are a few students in secondary school who probably have to be removed from the school in order not to have those who want to learn constantly disrupted. But we think the number is relatively small. We also think that the Ministry of Education should be very certain that they need to be removed before such a step is taken. It is best for the students to deal with them within the school, by using that school's counselling facilities if that can possibly be achieved.

Far too quickly people are suggesting that disruptive students should be expelled. If you expel them you virtually guarantee that they "fall through the cracks'' which is exactly what we sought to avoid with the new system. If you quickly send them off to an alternative school you stigmatise them to a degree which may well alienate them and only make them more difficult when they return to school. Remember that CedarBridge has not had a chance to prove that it can turn long-learned behaviour around.

We agree with Education Minister Jerome Dill when he says that we should have alternative programmes within the school first and then an alternative school.

As he says, they should have counselling and be allowed to stay in their schools. That way they do not become disconnected from their present education and being dealt with within the school has far less stigma attached. The use of an alternative school or expulsion from school should be a last resort.

We live in a time when it is acceptable to grab at almost anything to excuse bad behaviour and an alternative school or expulsion will provide that excuse and lead to worse behaviour. We must ask students to make the best they can of their circumstances even though we know that some of those circumstances are very difficult for them. Most people are very capable of self-improvement if they are given a fair chance. That is why we built CedarBridge, to improve the chances of success for young Bermudians.