A controversial principal is to remain with the Ministry of Education after parents campaigned against her becoming head of Francis Patton.

Gina Tucker was previously the principal of Victor Scott Primary School for eight years but was moved to the Ministry last June after guidance counsellor Anthony Peets filed a grievance against her.

It was announced in March that she would head Francis Patton Primary School as part of a reshuffle of principals.

She was to replace Gloria Martin in September, who will be the new head of Dalton E. Tucker.

However, parents protested through the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and held meetings voicing their concerns with Dr. Tucker’s appointment.

Yesterday, in a statement, the Ministry of Education said Dr. Tucker would continue in her post as Policy and Project Officer within the Department of Education.

The Bermuda Union of Teachers welcomed the move and general secretary Mike Charles said: “We are pleased that the Ministry has made the decision they made. Outside of that, we have no other comment. On behalf of the teachers, we are pleased and I am sure the teachers are relieved.”

The statement said Dr. Tucker was not dismissed from Victor Scott and said the school’s performance improved “significantly” while she was principal.

“Dr. Tucker had been slated to return to her role of Principal at Francis Patton Primary School in September, 2010”, it said.

“However, as a result of Dr. Tucker’s contributions over the last several months, and the changes to the public school system that are being contemplated, it was determined that Dr. Tucker’s skills would have a significant impact at the Department level.”

Dr. Tucker said: “I feel that I have made significant contributions to student learning while at Victor Scott, and have decided that the time had come to move on to new professional challenges.

“I will miss the day to day interactions with children and teachers, but I look forward to being able to contribute to the education system as a whole.”

A parent of a student at the school said: “The protest against Dr. Tucker was held in a disorderly and disrespectful manner and from what I saw she was unable to represent/defend herself.

“When I left the meetings I felt uninformed and angry as though I was being told to protest, but not allowed to know why. It seemed a bit like a witch hunt.

“But I could not help but take note of the anger thought of her presence brought to staff and parents who had spent time around her. I hope that ultimately the right decision was made, for the staff of Francis Patton, the children, and Dr Tucker.”

Another parent said: “It’s hard to miss what you don’t know about. For me, I hope this can still settle the staff who were quite upset about it and I think it’s important to have staff that are focused and enjoying their job. I think they made the right decision.”

Education Commissioner Wendy McDonell said Dr. Tucker has made “valuable contributions” to the Blueprint for Education and other policy issues.

Mr. James said the Ministry would be announcing who the principal will be “very shortly”.