CedarBridge, Victor Scott & Prospect Closed

March 30, 2012

Minister of Public Works Michael Weeks this morning advised that due to the fire at the Marsh Folly Composting Facility last night [Mar.29], CedarBridge Academy, Victor Scott School and Prospect Primary will be closed this morning until a health and safety assesment has been carried out to ensure the schools are safe for students and teachers.

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  1. Technology says:

    I’d like to see the BFS report of the cause of the last Marsh Folly fire and what the risks are. Other trash dumpsites and composting facilities in the US have stringent laws to keep them from being harmful to the surrounding communities…why is this a repeat for Bermuda. Once, shameful, twice shame on us!!! 3xs!!! Ludachristical insanity!!!

  2. Just sayin' says:

    Awful that our students have to be affected, but let’s hope they put this out before next week, when CARIFTA begins. Wouldn’t a smoked out stadium be a nice welcome for all those young athletes from the Caribbean?

    W&E get your act together, and stop trying to pass the buck by making up stories about arsonists.

    • Tommy Chong says:

      How do you know its not arson? Are you a CFEI?

      Even if it wasn’t arson it’s not fully the fault of W&E & if you knew the history of Marsh Folly you would know this. Before the incinerator all sorts of waste was dumped & burned there for years that was piled on. I remember as a child the stench of back of town from burning waste & the smoke we see now being a weekly occurrence. Who knows what sort of chemicals still seep from underground there that combined with methane from organic compost could start a blaze easily & there may still be underground heat sources from age old fires that were never fully stoked because water cannot put out heat sources from certain chemicals. Also our public is not that responsible with what they take to the dump as compost & will chuck an odd AA battery, lighter or some paint in the mix that can easily be looked over. It boils down to our waste laws being too lax & not having a majority public voice pushing government to change them. Its just as much our fault for an accidental fire as W&E if thats the case.

    • Mayan says:

      Oh my goodness-CARIFTA! Yes, that would be awful if this isn’t gotten under control and there’s a smoked-out stadium. It’s terrible that this had to happen at all but this timing is really bad.

      Actually the idea of arson crossed my mind. I know there’s natural elements at play that can cause combustion but there are also a lot of crazy people out there hell bent on making trouble.

      I’m sure the UBP-oops, ‘OBA’-is just loving this. They’d love to spin this to their advantage and somehow blame it on the Government. Just watch-it’s coming…

  3. Tommy Chong says:

    Just goes to show another reason why making only two public high schools was a bad idea. At least if they were still separated by parish there would be less kids missing out on a day of education. It seems that education is the lowest priority on our governments list but I bet if a study was done many of our societies problems would be linked to the creation of cedarbridge.

    • Mayan says:

      Well, THAT decision was made by the previous Government so what is the present one supposed to do about it? The PLP didn’t change the school system into what it is now-the UBP is responsible for that brillant idea and it can hardly be undone now, can it?

      I value education as much as the next person but missing one extra day of school won’t kill them. There are things that can be learned outside a classroom, you know. Hopefully the responsible parents will have their children doing something constructive and not walking around Town.

      • Tommy Chong says:

        Actually plp could have done something about it years ago when first elected before it became so far gone. PLP also did not protest against Cedarbridge back in the day instead they agree with ubp on this inner city style school.

        I understand that missing one extra day of school won’t kill them but my point was the potential risk Almighty forbid that could happen if something directly affected cedarbridge was to take place. Having so many kids in one public school could be disastrous to education if something like a natural disaster hit the school or other things that I don’t dare mention & hate to even think about happened. The creation of Cedarbridge has put a great number of our students at risk & plp throwing up their hands & saying, “It isn’t my fault” would be turning a blind eye to something they could have fixed early on.

  4. dat der says:

    Minister Weeks said, “CedarBridge Academy has been made available should any residents affected by smoke need to evacuate to a safe place.”

    Although I praise all efforts in tackling the blaze; when I read this article this morning, I began to wonder: how was CedarBridge made into a safe place if it had to be closed for a health and safety inspection this morning?

  5. Wandering says:

    a. CBA was to be used as an emergency Shelter
    b. the facility needs to be monitored for smoke damage, the water needs to be checked for possible contamination.
    c. I agree with lowest priority
    d. MIND SETS is the link to society problems… come on Tommy C…. as you can see in the government – you can have the best education offered it’s your thoughts (scheming, conniving) degrees that gets you what you want/what you threaten and how you succeed. The other degree is plain ole common sense which most of us have and use it either to our good or for the devil’s work – which yup, many have.

    • Tommy Chong says:

      Okay of course mind sets are to do with influences of parents, peers & media on a young mind. That being stated I have found as being a parent that sometimes there are some teachers in Bermuda who push their racially conceived notions on students. I find this especially happens in social studies classes. Though these notions are only solidified when the children come home & tells a parent who agrees that they are true. An example of this is one of my children being taught that the transatlantic slave trade was solely Europe’s doing by their teacher. I don’t like to openly disagree with my children’s teacher but my kids had to know it wasn’t true so their mind set would not be tainted. Though this has nothing to do with cedarbridge as my children are not in high school yet. The societal problem that I’m referring to with cedarbridge is not with mind sets but the difficulties students & teachers must face in an overpopulated learning environment. I come from the old school where of course there were a few bad eggs in my classes because they were spread out between schools. Now imagine how it must be for students & teachers to learn & teach in an environment where all bad eggs from all parishes are put in classes with students keen to learn. Like I agreed before these bad eggs couldn’t have turned this way because of teachers they turned this way because of influences of parents, peers & media in their surroundings. This creates huge distractions in class that make a day of learning less productive. It also makes it hard to help students that may have potential but are scared to show it because they may be ostracized by their peers who are in a bigger number in cedarbridge than in the old system. If we look at outside country comparison the new system is like an intercity system that producers a higher student failure rate then the old system which was more like a suburb system where more students succeed. When you have a high rate of failing students in society not all due to mindsets but also due to inherited learning difficulties it becomes easier for students to be led astray then getting help that may keep them on track. Now days the solution always seems to be to put the students with inherited learning difficulties on drugs to make them easier to handle then giving them counseling or extra help. The only thing this does is turn them into drugged out zombies & increase their risk of becoming drug addicts later on in life.

      • Wandering says:

        My grandson attends CBA – in special class – he has been told what is expected of him, who/what/where/when. Because he is considered special does not mean that he is treated as such… he was diagnosed with Asthma when he was younger – because that was so, does not mean that I treated him as such. We kept our carpets, our dog/cat, pillows, etc., today no asthma. I took a course one time and had to write a paper on “Special Needs Children”… I will never forget this “What child is normal” – they all have their quirks or differences. Failing students – how many of their parents blame the children/teachers/principals/society/education system, how many get/got behind their children/teachers/principals, how many decided to get their children involved in positive programs and we know that Bermuda has lots of them for all age groups. Many times I find that parents will give love in the wrong ways to their children (material things)and ignore the maternal things, others will give maternal and ignore the material, others still will give some of each and others will give nothing, yet, look for everything in return from their children. “Do to the best of your ability, for in the end you will receive your just reward”… My daughter was great in her first year, she slacked off – peer pressure/lack of teacher concern/lack of my encouragement – absolutely not – sheer laziness. Students tend to get very familiar with teachers who allow it – you can be familiar to a point. Teachers (not all) allow children to listen to cell phones (music) in class, allow teachers to call them by their last name “Tobidillas” – excuse me, I am Mr./Ms./Mrs. Tobidillas, teachers are not (some of them) stern enough. My mother was a teacher for yrs and she put the fear of God and herself in her students and very very few failed (slow learners). Parents need to stand to their children, I have seen 3/4 yr olds cuss, tell off and hit their parents and all they do is talk to them, some smack – you don’t allow it from the start, it wouldn’t go any further. As paernts we should not accept from our children what our parents did not accept from us and that wasn’t much. Keep the Standard!

        • Tommy Chong says:

          When I mentioned learning difficulties I didn’t mean asthma though I can see how that will cause a bit of difficulty in learning but its not an extreme case. What I meant was children with ADHD, Dyslexia or other learning problems. Many of these children get labeled as lazy & misbehaved. Many parents, teachers & doctors feel the only solution for these children is to be sent to a special school that most parents can’t afford or given a drug called Methylphenidate. Methylphenidate has a very similar makeup as Methamphetamine which is a drug that has a high teen abuse rate in the states under the street name crystal meth. In the UK’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence recommend use only in severe cases, while most United States guidelines recommend medications in nearly all cases as do the psychiatrist here. Funny thing is many psychiatrist will say these children need this because most children with this problem become substance abusers and/or school drop outs. What I wonder is which came first the chicken or the bad egg. The thing is you can smack these children all you want but it will not make a difference so parents give up & give in to drugging them up. There are a few psychiatrist in the world mostly European ones who believe & have proven through case studies that a diet adjustment & positive reinforce (this does not mean spoiling) works better than drugs. The ADHD children are hyperactive so if a teacher piles the work up along with the positive message, “I believe you can do this” while helping them a bit along the way they will do it & do it quicker than a normal child.

          • Tommy Chong says:

            I would also like to add that yes I agree we have a parenting problem in Bermuda. This parenting problem most of the time stems from broken families. Some say don’t blame the government because these dumb girls should know better. Well I say yes blame the government because they put judges in court that let the dead beat dads get away with not paying child support while some mothers have to work two jobs so they don’t have time for their kids. Not saying these girls are not dumb for choosing these worthless men or dumber than dumb for repeating this action but this is not the children’s fault so they shouldn’t have to suffer. Maybe if these men had to pay for their CHILDREN or be put in prison for not doing so they would think twice about their idiotic bragging rights of that well known Bermudian phrase, “I child de gurl up.”

      • ME says:

        Please do not talk about CedarBridge Academy. All class sizes have an equal amount of students where ALL students are able to learn.

        • Tommy Chong says:

          How many students are there to each class in Cedarbridge? If its over 15 that is not a good learning environment.

          • Beyond2 says:

            Lol it’s over 30 in some of the core classes and under 10 in some electives……

            • Tommy Chong says:

              WOW! OVER 30! I wonder how many of those 30+ as you typed below want to learn. If there is a huge amount in a core class that don’t I wonder how those who do & the teachers cope. Back in the day I remember the 2 troublemakers in my class doing everything possible to get attention from spit balls to slapping the ones they called nerds in the back of the head & even challenging the teachers authority from time to time. This made it difficult for lessons to go on smoothly & we had 17 per class. Its easy to send 2 to the principal back I can’t imagine dealing with more than that. No wonder many parents send their children to private schools now. It would be nice not to have to since college & university is expensive enough.

              • ME says:

                My son atteneds CedarBridge. There is about 22 students in each class and many have less so before you want to run the school down go get your facts straight.

                • ME says:

                  And another thing is if the students want to learn they will if they dont they will not learn. The school does everything possible for each student to learn. And if you know this CedarBridge has the top male students on this island right now. And a female student just made history so please go get your facts together before you have anything else to say.

                  • Tommy Chong says:

                    I’m going by the number poster Beyond2 put up. I tried finding other online info but BDA Government has none except for primary & middle. Maybe they should for parents looking at options.

                    22 students is still too many for a teacher to give opportunities for students to participate orally & the greater the amount of time devoted to classroom management rather than instruction. Hopefully the more important classes have less than 20. Even if a student wants to learn is statistically impossible for all to who do to get the same opportunity when its 20 & above. Not all young people learn the same & some need extra guidance to succeed even if they want to.

                    You have big claims that CedarBridge has the top male students on this island right now. Please back up this statement? I’m not trying to be facetious as I’m genuinely interested since if true many need to know they will be or already are wasting their money on private education. Also would like to know how a female cedarbridge student has just made history. Something like this should be published but I have missed this in my media reads. As before I’m not trying to be facetious & genuinely interested.

                    You do know there are many others who complain about CedarBridge? If they’re wrong you need to make it known as it has swayed many parents away. Please let us know the facts as they are not easy to find don’t just type go get your facts when they are not at our fingertips. Please ask Cedarbridge to get more information on their site as most of the navigation leads to blank pages as there’s much negative information going around & we all need to know the positive.

                    • Beyond2 says:

                      She is talking about the outstanding teen awards, a CBA student won overall outstanding teen, I will reserve my comment, but do review her winning credentials and compare with other students in the private sector…

                    • Tommy Chong says:

                      Yes I did read about the outstanding teen awards & I agree its a job well done for for all the award winners but surely this is not what the poster ME is referring to. These awards do not prove CedarBridge has the top male students & is not a historical academic achievement for the school.

                • Beyond2 says:

                  About 22 means average, in order for the average to be 22 some have to be higher and some lower, I said there are less than 10 in some and more than 30 in some….average about 22 so yes there ‘is’ about 22 students in each class.

                  • Tommy Chong says:

                    If student numbers jump around like this how can it bring fair & positive outcomes? What classes get the 22 & up & what ones get the lower numbers that give a fair advantage for all to succeed? It can’t be that some classes are considered more important than others since all types of occupations are needed to form a well working society. A student who has potential mechanical skills should be given just as much of a chance to excel as one who has potential literary skills.

        • Beyond2 says:

          Able to learn is one thing, wanting to learn is another….

  6. smoke and mirrors says:

    Berkley as a Shelter…….not Cedarbridge. If all the Bernews keyboard warriors have the answers, why arent you working in Government?

    • Tommy Chong says:

      Maybe because smoke inhalation might cause cancer & breaking mirrors could mean having years of bad luck especially in employment. I’m surprised you would entertain this question with a screen name like smoke and mirrors I thought you’d know better. Do you think Tony Brannon would ever get into government & voice his ideas?

  7. Prayerful says:

    How did it go from a fire at the dump to Cedarbridge.

    You all need to stop and find a life. Spend some time volunteering at Cedarbridge.

    • Tommy Chong says:

      It went from a fire at the dump to Cedarbridge when the teens didn’t & instead had a day off to wonder around as it seems most did from what I saw on lunch hour. Maybe the teachers could have found some out of school educational activities for the students to do instead of a day off. I’m sure teachers would have been willing & happy to do that instead of staying home working on Mondays lessons on a Friday because thats what they were doing. Right?

      You say we need to find a life how about the teens who are into drugs, gangs or both? We are concerned adults & you should be too if you’ve been following the news lately. Should we just sit back, shut up & go ahead with our lives like nothing is going on in this island? Isn’t the whole BPS head in the sand campaign all about this happening too much already?

      You say we should spend some time volunteering at Cedarbridge like its some outreach program but I hope not as our tax dollars pay for the teachers to educate there & to get parents involved. If this is not happening & the public without children there have to volunteer something is seriously wrong.

      • Beyond2 says:

        There was a post here by a student yesterday, one of the science teachers at CedarBridge emailed the parents instructing the students to come to the library after lunch for a 2 hour tutorial, not all the teachers and students took the day off. I can’t find the post but I remember laughing at it yesterday as the student called the teacher crazy.

        • Tommy Chong says:

          It is good to read this & hopefully the teachers & students that did take a full day off were made an example of. Its never a good thing when some push a rope while others pull it. Students must realize that in the real world there are many occupations when you must be on call & to ignore the call will render you jobless. Even in college & university this can happen. I remember once there was a snowstorm while I was studying abroad & we were to call in to check if it would be a snow day. The college said there was unless our teachers said different one of our hard nose ones did & wanted the assignment that was due. I trekked what must of been a mile in between 6 foot walls of snow with my class mates while others refused. This assignment was critical for a pass so we passed while the others who the teacher knew could have walked the distance failed the class. The funniest part of it all was I would have never dreamt I’d have an I walked a mile in the snow story to preach to my kids.