yesterday until the Education Ministry stepped in to address concerns about a disruptive student.

The Royal Gazette understands that staff at the school have exhausted all avenues of handling the female student who has been verbally abusive to teachers.

And her parents have refused to allow the school to send her to the Centre for Adolescent Development, Education and Training (CADET) at Warwick Camp for disruptive students.

"Teachers were at their wits end with this young student and they felt that they needed to have assistance,'' said Bermuda Union of Teachers general secretary Michael Charles when contacted about the situation.

"Teachers don't want to jeopardise the education of the other children,'' Mr.

Charles added.

"They are trying to do what is best for this student and the other students.

"We want the peaceful climate the school has enjoyed since becoming a middle school to continue.'' Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher met with staff for hours at Spice Valley yesterday to iron out the issue.

As a result of this a Math-a-thon final, which was scheduled to take place during the morning, was postponed until Monday.

Dr. Christopher could not be reached for comment.

But Spice Valley principal Patricia Holder confirmed that teachers were not satisfied with past disciplinary action taken against the student.

And while she did not want to go into the details of the case, she said the student was expected to return to school onMonday.