Minister Supports Saltus/CedarBridge Decision
The Minister of Education Nalton Brangman this evening [Aug 28] responded to comments by Shadow Education Minister Walton Brown regarding the outsourcing of financial reporting to the Saltus Grammar School.
Mr Brown said the decision by the CedarBridge Board of Governors to contract Saltus to provide the services of a Financial Controller “harms the interests of Cedarbridge, its stakeholders and public education more generally.”
In response, Minister Brangman said the “community needs to understand that Saltus is not managing the financial affairs of CBA, they are only recording the financial transactions. The Board continues to manage the financial affairs of the school.
“The Shadow Minister, Mr. Walton Brown, was not part of the process of evaluating CBA’s financial administration needs, assessing available alternatives, assessing value relative to budget dollars, or debating pros and cons of various options they were faced with.
“Further, he doesn’t know the specifics of what alternatives the Board had to choose from nor the specifics of the contract entered into with Saltus. In short he doesn’t have enough facts to enable him to reach a properly informed conclusion.
“As the Minister, I appoint a Board who has responsibility to govern the affairs of the CedarBridge Academy. I was advised of the development of the Request for Proposal seeking an individual or firm to manage the financial reporting of the school and the outcome reached as a result of their review of the options.
“In short, I support the decision that was taken by that Board,” concluded Minister Brangman.
So, will the Minister make available to the public the “specifics of the contract entered into with Saltus”?
You know, so we can “have enough facts to enable him to reach a properly informed conclusion”.
In the spirit of PATI and all…
So you think every document should be made public. Every contract? Personal employment contracts? Medical records? Government employee appraisals? Civil servant employment contracts? Proprietary research done by government departments?
Is that the way it worked in soviet Russia Jonathan?
No, that’s the way it was supposed to work only when the PLP were in power. Regularly scheduled programming has now been resumed. When was the last time you read a “Right to KNow” article anywhere?
I’m expecting things to be made available on the basis of PATI, which clearly states what should be available and what shouldn’t.
Civil servant contracts, pay, proprietary research done by government departments (as in any reports produced using public monies, including by consultants) should, in my opinion by subject to PATI.
Personal contracts, medical records and employee appraisals are not subject to PATI, and nor am I asking for them.
I do know that the new commissioner’s contract is for 3 years and of a PS level I believe of 46, which is about $172k per annum.
Seeing as the Minister is telling us we’re uninformed and so cannot make informed conclusions, surely it is reasonable to ask for the access to the information we need to be able to make informed conclusions?
Not sure why the bringing up of Soviet Russia there, seems rather irrelevant. For that matter, I don’t think they were very big fans of ‘the sunshine of public scrutiny’ either. Nor am I a fan of Soviet authoritarianism, despite the bizarre attempt by some to portray me as such.
Odd, but I don’t recall Comrade Starling asking for details of the consultants contracts handed out to Commie Song, John Boy Walton himself or Dame Jenny.
I’d vote for you…if you didn’t have your head shoved so far up your butt!
Well said Mr. Starling.
It saves money spent on backoffice functions Jonathan. It means resouces aren’t being wasted Jonathan. I know in communist countries they don’t give a rats a*s about wasting scarce respurces, but here in the real world it’s a fact of life. And the resources saved means there might be more they can spend on the real function of Cedarbridge, which is to actually educate kids. But don’t let that stop you asking stupid questions all day. Screw those kids. The main thing is to make sure no-one gets any credit for maybe saving unnecessary expense.
Um, I just asked for the details of the contract and so forth so that I (and others) can make informed conclusions about it.
I don’t see anywhere where I’ve actually attacked the idea itself (although I think it’s odd and I would have thought there was a better way). As such, your attack is somewhat misplaced here.
Or do arch-capitalists such as yourself not believe in people being allowed to ask questions? You do Pinochet proud no doubt…
To be clear, Part Four of the PATI Act (or sections 21-40 of the Act), under the title ‘Exempt Records’ makes clear what would be exempt from PATI requests.
I don’t think that the information I’m requesting would be considered under the exempt category.
@J Starling
I am totally with you on PATI. The general public should be provided with more information about how their hard earned dollars are being spent. What is the point in drafting all of this legislation if it is never fully implemented?
This government is not much better with “openness and transparency” (I think they need to define for us what they think this actually means) than the former government. Our politicians need to stop talking-the-talk and and start walking-the-walk if they want us to take them seriously.
@Family Man – Insults and personal attacks on people show a lack of maturity and and does not strengthen your arguments….it actually weakens them.
Peace!
Isn’t that what you asked for when the PLP was in power?
Dont worry LaVerne all governments self-distruct, lets use your beloved PLP as a prime example!
By the way Jonathan, PATI is not in effect. The PLP made a big deal of passing it when Scott was Premier, but that’s where it stopped. There it languished, a law with no effect. So you’re wasting your time trying to invoke PATI.
Yes, PATI is not fully empowered. It has been passed and there’s nothing, other than political will and the commitment of resources to it required now for the OBA to enact it in a functional sense.
Or is it not important now because the OBA’s in power?
Seeing as I supported PATI under the PLP – and was critical of the delay in implementing it under them – I fully intend to continue to call for PATI under the OBA.
Yay, go for it! Zzzzzzzz
PATI was passed in 2010 by the then Premier, whose name we mustn’t mention. Alex Scott just talked about it. Ewart got it done.
Keep Quiet Sandy.
We know what you are all about. Protecting the white man’s pocket!
racist.
Um, couple of things, Racist. First of all, the PLP passed PATI and then failed to implement it. They screwed around and wasted years crowing about a law that was passed but never implemented. by the PLP. So were they “protecting the white man’s pocket” for all the years they avoided PATI?
Second, who exactly will benefit from the economies being made by saving money on this admin function? The answer is that there will be more resources available to actually teach the kids at Cedarbridge. How is that protecting the white man’s pocket? It benefis Cedarbridge students, many of whom are black.
But still, since you’re a f…ing racist what difference does it make. Everyone’s out to get you. Everything that happens is to protect white men.
Tell you what, f…k it. Hire a department of half assed accountants, spend a ton of money on them, and fire a few teachers. F…k the students. Do it the old way, like PLP did.
Oh ya boy finally surfaced ,forgot all bout dis guy!!!!!!!!!! LMAO
I think they pull him out of the black magic hat, they wouldn’t place a sheep there it would confuse the kool aid drinkers as the supporters of the oba on this site refer to us.
Well we know what were drinking but what in the world they’re drinking, now de puppets (surrogates) want to show their faces. LMAO
In the spirit of the PATI Bill. What can he tell us based on his two week course. another joke. Minister of Education …needs education. why give the contract to Saltus. another dumb move.
Stop being damn lazy and get off your rusty oaks and go get the information, there are ways of doing it. this is not some private action that they can keep secret, it irritates me when bloggers want stuff put to them in print media,because you wont get the full thing.
Go get the facts in it’s entirety and you can appreciate the ministers comments more and the credibility of the two institutions.they will be more then glad to assist you and well said minister Brangman
“The OBA will provide an open and transparent process in the sunshine of public scrutiny…We will ensure Bermuda is served by a system that is open, fair, transparent and accountable. That’s what we will do.” — MP Trevor Moniz Aug 10,2012.
And they have been open and transparent …
+ An advert went out for the role, the salaried role was quantified.
+ Board considered candidates
+ The decision by the board was announced and described publicly in the press
+ The board names were made public
+ The reasoning for their decision was given
+ The minister has backed the decision and clarified the impact (or non impact)
It has all been made public…do they have to tell us about the colour of their underwear?
Something the PLP NEVER did! – PLP 1998- Dec 2012! Thats 14 years u know!
@ Lay down have to disagree with you, ubp/OBA were crying transparency and accountability so much ,PLP were focused so much on trying to appease the cries of the opposition they had press conferences every week. With Obeah in power now the Premier makes a cameo once in awhile and has to get orders from Gibbons and Dunkley, while I didn’t agree with some things Dr .Brown did he had guts.
Walter if you don’t jump on this something is wrong. Minister states ” Saltus is not managing, they are just recording” so they then went with another school to do this? Boards are in place to instruct and advise, not to do the day to day runnings of the financial office at CBA. Someone will have to manage this office.
Just wonder what the last financial Controller “JD” was.? Hmmmmmmmm
If reversed, simply put, this would never happen. I challenge anyone to think other wise?
Lol, personal attacks, misrepresentation and total ignoring of the call for PATI.
Bermudian political discourse at its finest.
I agree J. Starling.
PATI has languished for too long now.
Just a shame you were not as vociferous prior to December 17 2012 on all the issues that you have decided to take a “stand” against over the last 6 months or so.
But I am glad that such an intelligent being, such as yourself, has finally found their voice.
18 comments & hardly a single one on topic for the story at hand. SMH.
If all thats going on is simply ” Saltus is not managing, they are just recording” then why in the effing world would you outsource this when surely the CBA staff can handle that? Why pay additional dollars for such a thing when the governments pockets are already tight? This minister is follower who is just sinking us further in the hole.
If they could handle it, there wouldn’t have been the massive issues that even Mr. Walton Brown admitted to earlier in the week.
Why Saltus? If they are only recording, not managing, why not Berkeley, which is also a public school? Why not an accounting firm?
Mr. Brown should have all the necessary data to make an informed decision. He is a Member of Parliament.
Mr. Brangman, you are a disappointment.
Yet again another not so well thought out decision by the OBA. Why does the MOE not have a central group of accountants that perform all of the accounting functions for the entire Ministry?
We should not be outsourcing any part of this function to a competing school.
I sincerely hope the auditor general will look into this and recommend against this action.
I would expect the Minister of Education to support the Saltus/Cedarbridge decision. After all, he became the Education Minister by hanging on the coat tails of the director of the CBA board of governors during the election season while the director was campaigning for the OBA. The same director is also Saltus alumni so none of this surprises me.
Help me understand how he can support making Bermudian staff unemployed when the OBA said they will help grow jobs.
For goodness sake. This is an outsourcing of an administrative function. If we are going to focus attention on Cedarbridge or any other school, can we focus on its business (ie the education of our children) and not its routine admin processes. Lets keep our eyes on the ball here.
What!! Not Surprised has the money response. The Director of the CBA board was campaigning for the OBA and is a Saltus alumni. Has anyone noticed how this Minister seems to be a puppet?
The OBA minister of education is a pariot repeating what he is program to repeat concerning this issure.
We may think or be led to believe that this Saltus/Cedarbridge decision is a new thing; a new so-called progressive policy. But it is a turn of events that has long been in the works. It stems from the decline of student enrolment in the private schools and the financial stress which has occured with the foriegn international workers withdrawing from Bermuda and taking thier families which includes children with them. The children for the most part attended prvate school and even though I don’t have any proof and this is just pure speculation; It would not surprise me that the international business concerns allso subsidize the private school education of thier foriegn employees as they did for housing benifits for these same employees. All in decline. There has long being a feeling on the part of private school parents of the children that attend; that since they pay a common tax which goes to finance the public school system; there should be a way that some government money should come thier way. Saltus dealing with the finances
of CedarBridge will not be done on a charitable basic. They will be paid and they will paid from the government’s tax base. This is not even a back door move. It is in fact par for the course from this anti-Bermudian one term OBA government.
They’re saving money so that more resources can be spent on teaching children Alvin. Ain’t that hard to understand is it?
It would have been nice for the Minister to elaborate as to why it is necessary for Saltus to have to be “recording the financial transactions” of CBA. And also what will Saltus do with the recordings?
Are the Minister and The CBA board saying to the public that the Board is not capable of recording its own financial transactions? If so, I find it hard to understand how the Board can manage the financial affairs if they can’t record their own financial transactions.
The Board doesn’t record the financial transactions.
Hope that cleared that up for you
The board should not support Saltus
They’re saving unnecessary expense. That is good for Cedarbridge, which benefits the kids that go there.
why?
Sandy bottom: that is what they are telling you. Ask them for the figures between the last Financial controller wage and the new Saltus management wage.
Cedarbridge need their own identity!
If in the reverse position would Saltus allow CedarBridge to do the “Recordings”! That would never get pass their BOG’s.