30 Contracts Not Renewed: Paraprofessionals
Minister of Education Jennifer Smith confirmed today that 30 paraprofessionals and educational therapist assistants would not have their contracts renewed.
The Minister said, “In line with the Collective Bargaining Agreement that we have with the Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT), all paraprofessionals and educational therapist assistants assigned to public schools with one-year contracts are being notified that their contracts will not be renewed for September 2011.
This decision affects those persons whose role is to assist teachers or provide support to persons who have special needs. 30 out of a total of 150 paraprofessionals and educational therapist assistants.”
The full statement follows below:
Two months ago, in March, during the Budget debate, I set out the focus and direction for the Ministry of Education going forward.
I stated the operational and procedural changes that had already been made to improve financial efficiency and I made it clear that students are the sole reason for our existence and teaching and learning are our focus.
To that end we reviewed the Hopkins Report, the Board of Education’s BluePrint and the various assessments of schools and staff to determine where we are, and what we have to do to raise standards, smooth the transfer of students from P6 to M1 and from M3 to S1; and to increase the student retention rate.
I gave notice that I would be reviewing the Ministry’s staffing (75% of our budget is salaries) particularly Ministry and Department staff who are eligible to retire under the 1970 and 1981 Pension and Superannuation Acts.
When we put the students interests first, we begin by looking at how we can improve their classroom experience from the youngest age.
To that end we have been looking at what needs to be done to improve the operation of the Child Development Programme to make it more user friendly for children and the parents – and to ensure that they are fully servicing the needs of this group. This will mean ensuring that they are at optimum operational ability.
In tandem with this, we are looking at how we can best integrate the use of para professionals in our public education system.
We see a number of areas where improvements can be made. And a manning review suggests we have a paraprofessional surplus to some of our requirements.
Therefore, just as I signalled during the Education Budget Debate, personnel levels will be affected.
In line with the Collective Bargaining Agreement that we have with the Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT), all paraprofessionals and educational therapist assistants assigned to public schools with one-year contracts are being notified that their contracts will not be renewed for September 2011.
This decision affects those persons whose role is to assist teachers or provide support to persons who have special needs. The total number of persons affected is thirty (30) out of a total of one hundred and fifty paraprofessionals and educational therapist assistants.
The BUT Agreement requires that the Ministry advise these persons of their status no later than 1st June in any year and we have complied with this requirement.
However, as parents will be aware, we must still provide the necessary services to students as required. This means that if necessary, we will contact those qualified individuals if needed.
I think the public will agree that while paraprofessionals provide a much needed service, there is also room for improvement. To that end, we plan to establish a clear qualifying standard for paraprofessionals, while also instituting a programme to ensure those who wish to upgrade their skills. I think we can all agree that those who can do so must.
There should be full agreement that those who teach our children must be qualified and certified.
Prior to the end of June, information regarding staff cost reductions in the Department of Education and Ministry Headquarters will be released.
Now ya stepping on my kids future this is a very bad thing
This is good news……….can I now see the PLP making the following promises:
1. Ban ministerial cars. They are symbols of shame. A legacy of the UBP which the PLP have embraced and expanded like never before. All this while Bermudians are working 2, 3 jobs to make ends meet.
2. Lead by example. I want to see MP’s doing more with less. Take a pay cut, and cutback all the senseless travel and other royal perks which cost millions.
3. All MP’s and Senators take a drug test annually. I don’t want legislators who are drug addicts.
4. I want to see a govt plan detail how a third and forth pillar can be added to the economy.
5. What is happening with all these hotels and guest houses which have been demolished & abondoned? I want to see a plan to bring back tourism.
6. I want to see gangstaa’s eraticated. Police admit they know their first name, second name and nick name. Do something about this!!
7. I want to see the govt taking education seriously, and not managing govt schools like they are all daycare centers. I want to see an end to govt ministers making excuses for bad behaviour, and at the same time not giving teachers and headmasters the support they need.
8. I want to see the Minister of Tourism radically changed. It is a yesterday organization that does not enhance Bermuda tourism anymore. It should be merged with Min of Finance.
Next step—-reducing the bloated admin. staff in HR and Finance,within her Ministry.
Dame Jennifer, why are you instituting cuts that effect the most vulnerable people in our education system – those with special needs? You have no idea how hard it is for parents to cope in this education system when they have a special needs child. Look at who is included in this group, children with autism, for example.
My nephew is in primary school and is autistic. For years, we have struggled to get him a para, someone who can help him in school. The ministry has been reluctant for a long time to do anything to help him, our family is always told “we don’t have anyone to help him in school”, so I disagree with you about there being any “surplus” of paraprofessionals – that is nonsense. There are far more students in need of special help than paras who can help them.
Yes, there are some resources on the Island that offer help to special needs children – if you can afford them. Many families, like mine, cannot. I understand that people (who are not government ministers) are in the midst of hard times, and so cost cuts may be necessary. May I make a suggestion, Dame Jennifer? If you’re going to cut salaries, why don’t you start with your own.
I am not sure if your family has checked into the charity group Tomorrows Voices, But if you havent you should check out their website or give them a call. They offer help to student with autism at an extremely cheaper price then it would cost for a private therapist.
ps they are also having a summer day camp this summer too
Lil Help, That’s a helpful thought, but bear in mind that for a lot of children the correct model is ‘inclusion’; i.e. being included in a classroom with typical children. Children with special needs sometimes need a para to help with that. That is what is being lost here; the opportunity for children to become part of the wider community. We can’t deal with all special needs children by segregating them; for many of them it’s absolutely the wrong way to approach it.
Portia, You are completely right. This is mean, cruel, and selfish. She has picked on the weakest and most needy children in society to make her budget cuts. For Gods sake, this is really unbelievable. And she has the temerity to portray this as “improving the classroom experience”.
I am seeing first hand what is happenning in the Child Development Program. It is all aimed at providing less help for children who need it. Typicla of this hopeless useless halfwitted government.
I’d love someone to come on here and try to defend this. One of those halfwitted plp sycohpants.
Is there any hope for Bermuda?
When will the Dame lead by example and take a pay cut herself. Does she recall prior to 1998 what hard times means?
The Premier is making waves in her $150,000.000 promise, unfortunately more heads are going to roll.
And cuts at Port Royal Golf Course and Ocean View announced today..
Wonder how long it’ll be before those courses will fall apart ?
With all due respect, comparing golf courses to schools is comparing chalk and cheese. Government-owned golf courses are luxuries. We can dump them if we have to. Schools are not luxuries.
Man talk about a downgrade …From a paraprofessional to a paraplegic as the Minister takes the legs from right under them . Shameful …Smiling faces tell lies ; They don’t tell the truth ..
This story is really heart breaking!! How could government cut back on the students that already have the least amount of resources offered to them to have a successful future??? Bad move!!!
It is unfortunate that cuts were made on those who interact with students. These cuts would have been more effective if they had been made in the bloated administration at the Department of Education; bloated in numbers, egos and poor attitudes. When will our esteemed Minister reverse the pyramid, and put more resources into the group that interacts with students, and less resources with the pencil pushers? There is something wrong with a system when teachers have to leave the classroom for an administrative role in order to make a better salary.
smoke and mirrors
30 paraprofessionals are not the only contracts not being renewed, they are the only ones that publicly can be justified due to a ‘surplus’.
Talk to your children about how many teachers are not returning in September from the senior schools due to contracts not being renewed, in order to comply with the budget cuts…. was there was a report deeming them as surplus as well?
How is it possible that the solution to an under performing school system is to reduce the number teachers and assistants who help deal with the unruly, unmotivated or incapable student?
How much was the Berkeley Building over budget by? and you are jeopardizing the education of the youth over 3.2 million ?!
Were there any cuts for the prisons or are they still living large?
they are living better than the 30 paras that wont be working in September
they are costing us what 70k a year (each prisoner) while a student cost us 18k a year? and the answer is to compromise the school system so more end up in prison… and where is this money coming from?
Dame Jennifer says, “I think we can all agree that those who can do so must.” Does this cryptic message mean that MOED previously hired staff who were not qualified as paraprofessionals and now they are being ‘let go’ and encouraged to get qualified?…those who can do, so must?
If it’s a reduction in salary expense that is the target, let’s start with Ministers taking a pay cut and then make prison labour a source of revenue for the Government.
Where’s the Delusional Damsel to defend this piece of PLP idiocy?
I ain’t no fan of the Dame but she’s got this one exactly right. Para-professionals in so many cases add nothing to the classroom experience. There are still 120 of them going forward. As a parent I have seen first hand the frustration of some qualified teachers at having to manage a Para AND the kids in the classroom. In many cases the teachers would prefer to be left to get on with it. In most of the cases I have seen, the Paras lack the professionalism and training to manage in the classroom. Education is a specialized profession folks and not just anyone can be allowed to be in a classroom. What happens in the classroom is exactly what plays out in society: confusion, mixed messages, a lack of attention to detail and a battle between adults over ego stuff at the expense of the children. This culling is necessary and results and standards will improve as a result. Regrettably, the Dame’s cohones are bigger than Randy’s and El’s combined because they couldn’t bring themselves to do anything near a tough decision over on Dundonald Street.
Hmmmm,
Obviously you will say anything to protect and stick up for your PLP party. PLP all the way eh?
If your observations are correct about the paras, instead of cutting, why wouldn’t the ministry of education implement a policy of hiring better-qualified paras? Ah, right, that might lead to a discussion of whether we have the right quality of teachers. Maybe only hiring Bermudian teachers might not always get us the best in the world. An inconvenient discussion for you, I imagine.
“Education is a specialised profession folks” you say. And you make a case for the idea that less teachers and paras is actually better for children, because it’s less “confusion”. Absolute freakin nonsense, of course.
Hmmm, instead of blindly following your chosen political party, learn to think for yourself.
Thought the same thing when I read Hmmmmmmmm’s comment.
LOL
“oh venomous viper”…that’s Shakespeare ( I think…) You’re pushing at an open door on the quality of teachers and teaching. As a parental victim of the lack of quality I can’t wait for the non-performing teachers to be weeded out. I believe the best and the brighteset of whatever variety should be in the classroom. Let’s not forget, some the country’s icons came here as teachers and were legendary….Sir E.T Richards, Louise Jackson, Edna-mae Scott…..all foreigners who transformed the classroom. Drop your belligerance and listen, read and digest what people write. This government reduced primary school class size to no more than 17 and then increased the ratio of adults to children with the inclusion of these Paras and the results indicate that it has failed. There, is that enough to convince you that I ain’t blindly following ? Don’t confuse what I do with my vote with what I write in this little playpen.
This announcement is aimed at saving money, not “improving” the way that education is delivered to special needs children. There is no “improvement” here. It’s taking resources away. It’s saving money, nothing else.
And the reason they have to save money is because they have wasted a billion dollars.
And if I’m ‘venomous’ about it, so be it. It’s justified. The victims here are special needs children who need resources.
You are 100% correct!!!!!!!!!!! This saves money but doesn’t save our future!
are you for real – do you have any children that have special needs research before you speak you are making yourself look stupid
OK Hmmmmmmm….if you say some of the paras in our schools are so bad, why not fire the “bad” ones and keep the good? Why only target the paras on a one year contract? Some of the newer paras might have better, more up to date training than some of the ones that have been dangling around longer. Why do a blanket cut across the board of the one year people? Why not weed out the bad and make an example of them?
I don’t agree with these cuts AT ALL by the way – just responding intelligently to your original comment. Cuts to education but not to luxuries for the govt? That just doesn’t make any sense at all – - better increase the gang police in 10 years when these children who need paras don’t get a proper education.
I am losing more and more faith in this Government to educate my kids. Hopefully in the next 2 years maybe sooner I will be taking my boys away from this island. What hope is there for the kids??? You ministers are really messing about. Do you know what you are doing? You are ruining this island! I am so scared for this island. Next election I def wont be voting PLP!
who cares if majority of you nobodies will be voting for PLP or not. Most of you wont be voting for them because their black and getting paid.
Most of you act like the World didnt suffer a recession and job werent lost around the world. Look at the real estate market in America, still plummeting. Look at the madness in Egypt, Libya, even Portugals bail-out, Spain is even having its problems. Bermuda is doin alright !! We lost a few hundred jobs, it happens. We need to kick the foreigners out, offer more jobs to Bermudians, to get them back working !!! If your businesss failed because your work permits were cancelled, then you were running your business WRONG !!! I know i went off topic but all you people do is complain about everything the PLP is doing.. I blame UBP for all this madness anyway. Why put a failing Education system in BDA. They knew it would escalate into gang violence.
NONE OF YOU PEOPLE WENT CEDARBRIDGE !! YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING !!
I was going to reply to Pissed but I put it here as this is the type of kool aid talk that is heavily relied on by the faithfull instead of the issues.
I heard this I won’t be voting for the PLP before and as soon as the race thing and ubp boogie man talk started all that talk about accountability, transparence and needing change went by the road side. After all its better to be bent over by someone you now right Ganja mon so I guess you’ll sit there and keep taking what you’re getting then a cut a$$………….
LOL keep up the race and UBP did it to talk as an election is coming soon forget the issues which at this point is what have the PLP done to improve the situation.
UBP havent been in power for i think 12 years how can you still blame them
Ganja mon, So even when your almost entirely black plp government is taking things away from the predominantly black Bermudian children in public schools, you think it’s a good thing. So you like it when they do things against disadvantaged black people.
You people missed the gravy boat completely.
@LOL, Yes I would rather get it up the A$$ by someone then someone I like rather then someone I dont like. So you are right, I would rather see my race in Power and at least have an understanding of what poorer people have come from rather then a born rich spoon fed ex-UBP member. Those UBP member didnt create any of thir business, they were all given to them.
@Donna, The UBP havnt been in power for 12 years, BUT the PLP had to try fix the problem they created. UBP opened Cedarbridge in 1996 knowing full well 10 years later it would be a gang culture. So all this gun crime stemmed from from that school opening. Ask anybody who went that school, then ask em if they were in the same class as some of these men doing the shootings.
@crazytalk, I dont even feel like giving you an answer..Read the above ^^
Clearly you have missed something too. Open ya damn eyes, PLP haven’t fixed nuthin!
You don’t want to answer because there is none. Your government is taking resources awaye from your children while they drive around in limos. That’s the truth of it. And you want to blame expats and white people. You truly have your head up your ass.
People voted for a new Bermuda in 98. What they got was lying, cheating. PLP is out of steam now and they know it. They are cutting this way and that because of previous financial incompetence they were warned about many times. Critics were passed off as racist whether they were white or black.
The only emotional ‘finally free yourself of your shackles’ thing they have left is independence. Two words: Don’t listen! PLP’s day is done. We must rescue our beloved island from the damage these disgusting people have done.
Get up, stand up! Get rid of this Government.
Guess what ?! You are the monority here ! PLP will win again because we know if we give this Island back to the UBP/OBA, they will burn us poorer folk while helping the rich as they done time and time before.
They cant pull the wool over my eyes. If it smells like a Goat, walks and makes Goat noises, Guess what? Its still a Goat. I wont vote for the UBP/OBA because I know they wont take care of me or people in my situation.
what has PLP done for you lately
Exactly – please tell me what this govt has done for our people lately? Please provide a list so we can all see the many wonderful things they have done for our island, our children, our future, our well-being, our self-esteem, our household budgets, our seniors…
Please list for us….we’re patiently waiting…at a bus stop.
G-mon, I’ll hear you out: if the PLP is doing you so well, how so? Do you have a job that was created by the PLP or from somewhere else? If the PLP has indebted you and everyone else on the island to the tune of a billion dollars how do you want to pay for it? How do you want to contend with the educational issues like this one? How do you want to deal with employment where there isn’t a qualified Bermudian to do a job? How do you want to deal with immigration where it deals with foreigners who do the jobs that a Bermudian could fill? Do you think there are alternatives on the island to your situation (if so, what?)? What would make your life better? Seriously, I’d like to hear your answers.
Ganja Mon. I might still be the minority here – but only while there are people smokin weed who don’t know any better cuz their brains are fried and they still wote Pee Al Pee.
Vake op!! Get off de veed and shrow yur gummint out de door! Before they take vatewer you still have left.
Or I guass u cud get inedendence and join de turd vorld under yur Pee Al Pee.
what about the 30,000,000.00 over budget police station and court house…. thats were the money went! and when these children get older and are uneducated and gang banging like the rest of Bermudas youths now days, they can just lock them up… See they thought about it very well better than you people know… Keep giving your government back what our grandfathers faught for and rest assure the government will see to it our demise… they wont stop to they have us all on a string//// And if you ask me why Bermuda is seeing all this violence its because of situations like this … there is no hope for the so called gangsters and soon to be gansters because you know why they have never made an honest dollar in a positive envirement and they never will.. there arent enough jobs #1 they have no skills #2 and they have no support #3….. Its just like up Bermuda College ! you mean to tell me 1.5 million is too much money to spend on our future… its a sad day in Bermuda and the days are going to get sadder.. why pull the funding in a time like this because you know y its crunch time Bermuda is in for some big changes in the near future so if you people dont see it take heed because change is for sure ….
“#3….. Its just like up Bermuda College ! ” can you explain what you mean by this?
While it’s necessary to do some cutbacks in order to deal with the ongoing recession in Bermuda, I have to agree that there are other areas that should be held accountable for cutbacks BEFORE the most vulnerable part of society takes a cut. If there are paraprofessionals who do not qualified then fine – let them go or train them appropriately, but ensure that there’s a clear transitional path so those are most in need do not lose the support they most definitely need. Regardless of who’s in power, it’s apparent that government has failed and unlikely to change significantly even if there is a change in power given the UBP’s past (regardless of the name change). That said, the PLP lacks the guidance, clarity and transparency needed to PROPERLY govern Bermuda – a billion dollars in debt says as much. If Bermuda wants a change, then it’ll need to be more grassroots (but not like the Tea Party in the USA) and filled with fresh new faces with an enthusiasm to make a difference – good luck on that!
I am a grandmother of a legally blind grandson who has been struggling through our educational system. For the last four years we have been fighting for a para proffessional to assist him at school.Lately he has been alloted a para to share with another little boy and now the will come to an end. I am sad and disheartened. Do you realise that the children are our future.
“And they said we couldn’t govern…”
Who was that? Colonel Burch? I wonder how satisfied and smug the PLP feel today. Utter utter failures.
This so sad. More people out of work!! These special needs kids are going to suffer along with the rest of the other students! Special needs kids NEED the one on one with the para and many of the other kids will fall through the cracks, because teachers will now have to spend more time with the special needs!! What is the Government thinking about??
Looks like the Dame went straight for the jugular. When I lived in the USA, the normal process for minimizing costs in the school system would be to (and usually in this order);
cut out sports and extracurricular activities,
shorten the school day or lengthen it and close one day a week,
increase class size,
move students and then close the schools.
The last thing they try to do is to take away staff.
It’s a shame that we were warned years ago about what was about to come but we allowed the PLP (and I’m black, Bermudian who did vote for the PLP but not in the last election). Its was ok for Berkeley, the dockyard pier and the court building to have cost overruns in the millions….but now do you see what the millions wasted could have saved us?
Bear in mind, there are still more govt. lay offs to come.
correction…….but we allowed the PLP TO OVERSPEND (and I’m black, Bermudian who did vote for the PLP………
OK, here’s some truths. I’m a veteran of the MoE, and I’ve been on the ‘inside’. I sincerely hope and pray this is a cut that considers individual performance as well. There were MANY para’s (and teachers!) who really shouldn’t have been there. I’ve witnessed a para sitting next to a student while just reading her Bible all day. No real interaction with the student. Another one was interacting with the other students in the class but not with the special needs student she was assigned. Another texted all day. Their only function it seemed was to take the child to the bathroom, but there was no real education going on there. I wouldn’t be upset in the least to see those sorts go. I’ve seen teachers giving ‘spelling tests’ to students, using P1 words on P4 students. ‘I’, “me’, ‘they’…if my nine-year-old can’t spell those words, there’s a real problem. Or better still, a TEACHER who boasted that she could tell which students in the class would be pregnant teenagers or serving time in prison, or sitting on the wall. Nice work…way to encourage and nurture.
The bar needs to be raised, and a para can’t be just a warm body, they have to be someone who will actually help that student, so let’s again look at all angles. I want to know about the quality the Dame has retained, just because someone is only on a one-year contract doesn’t mean that they are ineffective. I bet there are para’s who have been there for years who should be shown the door, too. And before you all start with the mud slinging, I wasn’t in a position of authority to do anything about that which I’ve noted above. But rest assured I did report it- to deaf ears, I might add.
So- bravo to the cuts if they are deserved by merit. Shameful though, if the cuts were just because contracts ran out- that would indeed be a coward’s way to manage.
Guess we’ll all have to stay tuned!
@Fed Up Bermudian and also @Hmmmmm.
Thanks for your obviously well-considered comments.
I’m outside the education system but have heard so many similar stories from teachers on the front line. Teachers who have no ax to grind politically.
Both/all political parties really have to use better PR when bringing forward issues that are going to cause controversy. The days of hand-outs of speeches that are then, in many cases, read out loud poorly (and I am NOT speaking of the Minister today at all). Deliver what you have to in a press briefing but simultaneously place a longer version on a website explaining in depth the reasoning behind the topic at hand backed up with facts and figures. Why? Because nowadays within 5 minutes of something being posted on-line by the local news organisations there are people going off at a gallop with their comments, many (not all) talking gibberish, some of which sadly is taken by many to be the truth. Much of the electorate IS intelligent enough to assess for themselves the decisions that politicians have made but you need that information out there before it is hijacked. Allow people to read and digest what you have to say instead of hearing “on the street” from the rumour-mill that exists in this, and any, small community. And to follow on…..How many of the politicians have websites of their own (and I don’t mean a static page that has not changed in a year)? Facebook, Twitter? Show us what you’ve got and what you stand for and be happy to be accountable to us who may be prepared to vote for you.
I have seen a lot of venting on this topic.Just like Bermudians usually do! It is time to do something about this issue. We have a right to secure the future of the youth of Bermuda and in turn securing the future of the community!What are we going to do to solve this problem? We talk so much about a problem until it is anesthetized! The government is used to that that’s why they keep doing the things they do. They know the problem will cause controversy for a little while then it will go away. Let’s go people, let’s take back Bermuda. Let’s make it safe for us both physically and financially!!
Final word on this one: ask yourselves why the Union is so muted on this issue. No march, no general membership meeting, no threat of strike, no demands of a meeting with the Minsiter, nothing from the usual playbook. They’re quiet and muted because they know this is necessary and they know that the whole Para thing is bloated. Remember what we’re dealing with folks. Prof. Hopkins reported that Bermuda’s Learning Support programme was great but at one school 94% of the children were in learning support. Either we have some stupid kids or the system is out of control and depends on shutting away the challenges in some separate area. The teachers need to be challenged to perform and removing unecessary resources from the classroom will make them step up to the plate and do what our teachers did with far bigger classes and some of the same issues.
They are contract workers on one-year contracts. There is not much the union can do about it.
I take the points made by you and others about the paras who are not doing their jobs properly (and teachers too), but there isn’t really anything in the minister’s statement that indicates it’s incompetents who will be let go, and replaced by competents. Her statement talks about budgeting and financial efficiency.
What this will mean is less resources for special needs children, and that is the alarming thing about it.
Can’t resist. Your premise assumes that this means less resources for special needs children. That is flawed from the beginning as it assumes that each Para employed is doing that for which they were engaged. They are not and that’s the point. What remains is what is required to deliver for the children in question. That which has been let go is not required to deliver the services. I can say that because no child in one of my kid’s classes has need of a Para but there is one and on some occasions two. Sometimes I go to school and find the Para, not a qualified teacher, in front of the class “instructing”. This thing is deeper than all these haters on here are able to admit.
@ Hmmmm! how do you know that no one in your children’s class need a Para? Para’s are not just assigned to students with visible disabilities..a para can be assigned for physical, behavioral or academic challenges…and to your earlier point in a previous post we had a General membership meeting on Monday wherein things that are mentioned in the article were discussed prior to publication in the media…..
Well, now you have lost all credibility.
Parents and grandparents of children with special needs, who struggle to obtain help with those children, should not be dismissed as ‘haters’ just because they take issue with reducing the number of special needs paras by 25%. This labelling of everyone who disagrees with the plp is a big part of the problem, Hmmm.
The thing is deeper than you are prepared to admit. The people being let go are the ones who were last hired, 12 months ago. If they weren’t needed, as you allege, why were they hired? Why did the MOE hire 30 people a year ago that in your opinion weren’t needed? Doesn’t really stand up does it, unless the govt was deliberately wasting resources hiring incompetent and un-needed people.
You and others on here have described some paras as incompetent. You have also described some teachers as complicit in the incompetence. If Smith wants to deal with that issue, she should do so. Evaluate everyone, get rid of the timewasters who sit there texting all day, and hire competent people. We would all like to see that.
But a random downsizing by 25%, just by not renewing the people on a one-year contract, is not addressing the issue of competence. In fact, it might well be getting rid of the most competent people, while doing nothing to address the competence issue. And it does reduce the resources available.
Onto the subject of ‘need’. I can tell you from first hand experience that getting resources for a child with ASD is extremely difficult. Others on this message board say that same thing. There is a need, and these cuts will make life more difficult for parents and children with special needs; children who really need the help.
Finally, just one more comment about your labelling. In my opinion you are the ‘hater’, not me. You are the one who labels anyone who disagrees with your beloved plp. I (and others here) am the one arguing for resources for special needs children. You’re the one who seems to think special needs children can do without help, in order to save money.
Co sign been sayin that from day one since HMMMMMMM made his/her first post PR at its best although Dragging is better than HMMMM at the PR thing..
LOL
Why is education failing in Bermuda-
I have seen stats showing that the the teacher pupil ratio here is around 1:7
In the UK it is around 1:17
How can this be?
@ next? I don’t believe the educatiopn system is failing . I believe that parents there is a lack of parental involvement when it comes to education! Parents are the first teachers in the life of a child. If they do not teach their children why education is important and that it is a priority then they come to school just because they have to. They come to school with no true understanding of the importance and value of education.
In light of Fed-Up Bermudian comment and others, here is some add’l inside information. Some of those cuts where not qualified at all. And to start, there have been a number of Bermudians who returned from college/university with degrees that specialize in education and so forth. Some of whom acquired post-graduate degrees and were hired on contract based on the condition that they obtained a teacher certification or enrolled in the programme in conjunction with their current post (contract).
What consideration was given to those teachers who were/are currently in the middle of completing that certification? So, to add injury to insult, again, not all remedies had been exhausted before cuts were made. So, there will be a number of qualified Bermudians, in the process of obtaining their teacher’s certification coupled with reports from the Principal about performance who were axed and MAY NOT RETURN in September. So, it begs to ask who will fill those posts or assume those responsibilities? Keeping up with the news, that means that posts will be vacant and to be filled perhaps by qualified foreigners!!!
Something to think about!
Hold on a second- again, from having been there before, I do know that every reasonable attempt to allow the necessary amount of time to complete those certifications had been made in the past, and I very much doubt that anything has changed for the worse in that regard. Sorry, but I don’t think it’s excusable that anyone should take five years to complete a two year degree mostly because they procrastinated or hadn’t applied themselves. We are crying out for excellence in our students, yet we don’t seem to care about excellence FOR our students from their educators, be it para’s or otherwise. Yes, we have special needs children who need para’s. But from what I witnessed- and I might add for my special-needs nieces- no para is better than what they had.
Perspective is what we need most. Two teachers I know were taking YEARS to complete their teaching degrees, yet still teaching within the system, with absolutely no repercussions- both had the attitude of ‘I’m Bermudian, they have to let me stay’. I think it’s an insult to those who worked hard and got their degrees before even entering the system to allow that sort of attitude for our students!!!! You notice that doesn’t happen in the private schools, does it? And given that, you know, not being allowed back in September might be exactly the lesson that some of these slackers need to get on with things. Why should a Bermudian be allowed a job they take for granted and/or aren’t qualified for? Before you shoot me down for it, seriously- why is that acceptable? The MoE has traditionally done more for its staff than it has for its students. It’s time we, as a country, demanded excellence from them too. Would you want somoene whose performance wasn’t up to snuff to come back to the classroom, just because they’re Bermudian? I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t care what nationality teaches my child, so long as they are delivering QUALITY. That’s what our kids are lacking.
Read more of the Hopkins Report. The standard of teaching is one of the big items. Nowhere do I recall anything about the over-abundance of foreign teachers or the dearth of para-educators as being factors driving our schools’ performance down. Yes, parents have a lot to answer for, a LOT. But that doesn’t let teachers off the hook. More still, it doesn’t let those who manage them off the hook- if a teacher isn’t performing, what do you think has to happen? Oh- sorry- you’re too busy trying to: preserve a job, protect a relative, make sure you’re well-liked by your staff (pick one) to get what’s best for our kids. Sorry, I don’t feel a bit of sympathy- two months off, Christmas and Easter, various other public holidays, sponsored training…as a parent, I am outraged. The rest of us should be too. There are some excellent teachers, but there are also quite a few who just need to go. Kudos to the Dame if she can accomplish this.