Aided schools say they are reluctant to adopt a new system of governance which will place management in the hands of 'cluster boards'.

Despite meetings with the education reform team and Education Minister Randolph Horton, some aided school communities are still opposed to Government plans to replace their boards of trustees with cluster boards.

The cluster boards will be responsible for federations of schools but education experts say they will give more autonomy to principals, giving them more authority to appoint staff, set budgets, and manage the day-to-day operation of their school.

The education reform team say the new system of governance has been inspired by the example of the Island's four aided schools – whose governing boards were held up in the Hopkins Report as an example in terms of their autonomy in appointing staff and school maintenance.

However, the schools' boards of trustees will now be "subsumed" into the larger cluster boards, something which Sandra Neal, President of the PTA of St. George's Preparatory School described as "an unnecessary risk".

The four schools - St. George's Prep, Whitney Institute, Berkeley Institute and Sandys Secondary School – are currently in discussions with the Ministry of Education and the reform team about the proposals. But Ms Neal said they have so far failed to provide any reassurance.

"The parents and teachers of St. George's Prep remain extremely concerned about the proposals to remove our school's individual board of trustees," she said.

"We don't have an issue with the plan to form cluster boards for the maintained schools, as our experience has been that giving greater autonomy to principals of schools is very important in the Bermuda context.

"But while the new cluster board plan brings beneficial changes to the maintained schools, it is not at all clear what benefits these changes will bring to the aided schools, and there is no guarantee that it will not have a negative effect.

"From our point of view, it is an unnecessary risk to dismantle the aided school boards. Nothing that the reform team has communicated to our board of trustees on this subject has reassured us on this point."

There are 160 pupils and 15 teachers at St. George's Prep.

Principal Mary Lodge did not wish to comment but told The Royal Gazette: "We are still in the middle of a series of meetings and are trying to learn more about the plans. We are meeting with the Ministry and working to find out their intentions."

However, a source at one of the aided schools said: "The schools are hoping Government will take more time to consider the proposals and find a way of keeping the aided schools intact."

She said one of the main areas of concern was ownership of land and buildings - currently in the hands of trustees. According to the woman, who did not wish to be named, Government has not yet made it clear whether it will buy or lease the schools, and she questioned whether trustees would still be able to maintain the grounds and buildings.

Another grey area is staffing. The source said that as aided school board trustees appoint and employ staff, questions remain as to whether principals and teachers would now be employed by Government, and how their pensions and salaries would differentiate.

She also asked whether school names, crests and uniforms would remain the same.

However, Darren Johnston, leader of the reform team's Medium Term Development working group, has said cluster boards will be responsible for maintaining the "legacies" of aided schools.

Mr. Johnston told The Royal Gazette last Wednesday: "We have asked the aided school boards to play a role – it isn't like we have a pre-selected army ready and we will then eliminate the aided school boards. The intent is to tap their leadership and guidance and to have them as part of the process."

He said: "The aided schools were flagged as an example to be built upon."

Explaining the need for cluster boards rather than extending the aided school model of individual management to all public schools, Mr. Johnston said: "If you tip it all over on one side and have 26 boards and don't have a way of creating a unitary system, then we don't think that meets David Hopkins' recommendations."

UK education expert Professor David Hopkins added: "One of the education outcomes of the review (the Hopkins Report) was there was a lack of continuity and alignment in provision across the schools, so we thought this (cluster boards) was a very positive education proposal - to allow schools to plan their curriculum in a much more coherent way."