Disruptive behaviour by students has brought about an alliance among merchants, city officials, and politicians to stamp out the problem.

While no incidents involving students were reported at the Hamilton bus terminal yesterday, owners of businesses in the area told The Royal Gazette they feared that violent and rowdy school children will not only hurt their enterprises, but the Island's image as a whole.

And they called for cameras to be set up in the area to expose the culprits.

Winners Edge bike shop owner Greg Hopkins, who one day witnessed three disruptive incidents within 20 minutes and has had visitors seek refuge in his Church Street store, stressed that hundreds of visitors were being exposed to violence in Hamilton on a daily basis.

"Everybody looks to blame the Government and Police,'' he said. "But they are not looking at the problem which starts in the home.'' "These kids are having fun and they don't see the implications that this does,'' he said about students who hang around the terminal.

"It will take the parents to get involved rather than blaming the senior school.'' Mr. Hopkins has suggested that parents visit the terminal after school and cameras be set up on buildings in the area or people visit with cameras.

Kym Burns, managing director of the Athletic Club which faces the bus terminal, supported the call for cameras to be installed.

She said there had been occasional skirmishes in the past in the area.

But she noted that she had never experienced the aggressive behaviour she was exposed to earlier this week.

Eight to ten students converged on the club's porch and did not move until she called 911, she noted.

Mrs. Burns said several clients complained about having to make their way through the students.

"I think this is disgusting,'' she stressed. "These children need to have better discipline and their families need to know what they're up to.'' Anger at disruptive students security officer for her business.

"The news should come down here and take a videotape of every child's face and show it on the nightly broadcast,'' she said.

While noting that only few students were causing problems at the terminal, Corporation of Hamilton secretary Roger Sherratt said it will be one of the first places under surveillance when closed-circuit television cameras are installed in Hamilton.

He added that the Corporation "strongly support the efforts of the Police''.

Meanwhile, leaders of all political parties called for an alternative setting for disruptive students.

Premier Pamela Gordon and Education Minister Jerome Dill announced that such children at CedarBridge Academy will be identified, separated from other students, and given the help they need to "assimilate'' in a learning environment.

"The success of Bermuda rests on how we as a community solves this problem,'' Ms Gordon said.

And leaders of the Progressive Labour Party and the National Liberal Party agreed.

But PLP leader Jennifer Smith said an alternative school, as suggested by the Opposition and Bermuda Union of Teachers, would have helped CedarBridge.

Speaking from the UK Labour conference in Brighton, Ms Smith, who is also the Shadow Education Minister, said: "Certainly it was recognised by people far closer to the education scene than myself, that there was a need for an alternative school.'' She credited former Education Minister Clarence Terceira for accepting that an alternative school was needed for "those who had social problems which impacted on their ability to learn''. "It was the Minister who followed him (Mr. Dill) who determined that that was not necessary,'' Ms Smith noted.

"If we had set up the school as Dr. Terceira had agreed (was to be at Woodlands), I do think that CedarBridge might have had more of an opportunity to get started with their programmes because there would have been a place to which young people identified as needing that kind of help could have been sent.'' Ms Smith stressed that adults had a responsibility to children "even when those children do not recognise that their behaviour and the things they are doing are not in their best interest''.

NLP chairman Charles Jeffers echoed similar sentiments.

"The solution to the problem is not getting rid of the students,'' he said.

"We believe that Government should look seriously at setting up an alternative school where young people can get an education and at the same time develop their self-esteem. They have to learn how to manage their situation and be responsible for their actions.'' "We hear a lot of them (parents/guardians) blaming the system,'' he added.

"We know the system is not perfect, but the buck has to stop with them.

"All parties must come together on this because the future of our Island is at stake.'' EDUCATION ED STUDENTS ED