Parents are pulling their children out of Whitney Institute Middle School amid fears that the unsafe school will not reopen in September.

The Royal Gazette understands that the parents of as many as 20 students have applied for their offspring to begin the new term at a private school.

However, the school's trustees, who threatened to close the school down for health and safety reasons in May, are said to be confident that a detailed plan to save the dilapidated buildings will be unveiled at a public meeting at Whitney at 6 p.m. today.

The 125-year-old school said to be riddled with problems including rats, termites, falling light fixtures, no fire alarms and faulty wiring has been declared unsafe by the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

Lawyers for Government and the trustees have been hammering out a written agreement to solve the situation since the end of last month when the two sides reached a verbal accord after weeks of arguing.

Education Minister Randolph Horton was due to sit down with the trustees yesterday afternoon to go over the details of the renovation plan.

But for some parents, the uncertainty over the school's future in the last two months and concern over safety has proved too much and they have opted to withdraw their children to take up an assured place at a fee-paying school.

Teachers are also worried about their job security and are questioning whether there is enough time before the start of term on September 3 to get the aided public school, on Middle Road, Smith's, ready to reopen.

One female staff member said: "People are feeling very antsy and very insecure. The Ministry [of Education] supposedly has an obligation to place us [elsewhere] but they renege on promises so often.

"Trustee chairman Tom Davis said he could not comment ahead of tonight's meeting