more security guards with greater powers to keep students in line will be met.

These demands were relayed to school officials on Monday night after educators and the Bermuda Union of Teachers met in the secondary school's cafeteria to discuss the spiral of violence at the school.

BUT president Michael Charles last night told The Royal Gazette that the emergency meeting had gone well.

"They are concerned about the security at the school and the number of security guards at the school,'' he said. "Because of its size, the school is hard to cover. They may need to have more security guards at certain times of the day.'' He added: "They have asked for more security and that the security guards have more authority. They don't have much teeth at the moment. They can talk to a student but if the student does not listen, they have no recourse.'' Monday night's urgent meeting was requested by CedarBridge teachers last week who were frustrated with the level of violence at the brand new senior school.

Mr. Charles said the teachers' request for more effective security guards was relayed to CedarBridge principal Ernest Payette.

"They have some concerns that have to be addressed but I think they will be addressed by Mr. Payette,'' Mr. Charles said. "Mr. Payette has a meeting with the Board of Governors this week and I think they will discuss the issue.'' And he expressed optimism that things will work out.

"Mr. Payette is someone you can approach and he has the best interest of the teachers and students at heart,'' he said. "Things, at the moment, are not the best but the teachers are coping quite well.'' Mr. Charles said the teachers will meet again in the new year to examine what decisions the school administration had reached.

UNIONS UNS