Education Minister: No Schools Will Be Closed
[Updated with video] “I believe that the priority is not to close schools at this time, but changes are needed in order to provide a better service for our children,” Minister of Education Wayne Scott said today, with the Minister confirming that no schools will be closed.
This follows after the SCORE report said that closing Gilbert Institute, Prospect Primary School, St. David’s Primary School and Heron Bay Primary School were among the possible scenarios of school reorganisation.
The Minister said the SCORE Report “revealed a wealth of data, information, findings and recommendations” and “what is essential at this point is determining a clear direction” and he believes “that the priority is not to close schools at this time, but changes are needed.”
Speaking at a press conference today, Minister Scott said, “Today, I will announce my decision on school reorganization.
“In my deliberations on school reorganization, I found the task of making a decision very challenging as I reflected on the many submissions received from our children, our parents, school PTAs, school alumni, our teachers, principals and concerned members of our community.
“I have been heartened from reading the array of expressions about our public school education system. So, I say thank you to our stakeholders for your patience as I took the time to digest the content of each submission that was received.
“The feedback has been immense and thoughtful. The submissions included frank views, different ideas, detailed analyses, critiques, alternative suggestions, insightful concepts and, heartfelt testimonies from our school communities. I found that the narrative that has emerged from the consultation is quite different from some of the prevailing perceptions of our public school system.
“Children are having rich educational experiences that have helped to make schools important to them, important to their parents and to our communities. It is because of this, that I believe we as a country have to do better; and we still need to do more for our children.
“The school reorganisation [SCORE] report is a valuable piece of work that has brought heightened attention to a number of challenges facing our public school system, including the physical infrastructure of school buildings.
“The findings of the SCORE Report revealed a wealth of data, information, findings and recommendations that identify great possibilities for improving our public school system. Nonetheless, what is essential at this point is determining a clear direction, of what we envision for our public school system, is needed first.
“I believe that the priority is not to close schools at this time, but changes are needed in order to provide a better service for our Children.
“Of all the many responsibilities of government, the security of all and the education of children are paramount. Citizens may thrive in a secure democracy, providing they are sufficiently well educated to do so.
“The provision of educational services requires public support and must outlast the limited term of government administrations and the dictates of party politics. The education of our children cannot be held hostage to such restraints. Education is a lifetime’s commitment.
“The direction moving forward will begin around 5 areas:
- “Develop a Strategic Plan for the public school system, inclusive of a review of the organizational structure of the Department of Education;
- “Ensure that all primary schools are equipped with holistic programmes and services that include music, art, physical education, etc;
- “Further develop and execute on the schedule for the improvement of the exterior and interior of all school buildings, with the safety and health of our students being a critical priority;
- “Relocate preschools to primary schools where feasible; and
- “Explore the repurposing of one of our schools as an Alternative Learning Centre for the provision of services for students needing alternative learning. A secondary benefit of this option could be that the Ministry of Education is housed within this repurposed facility, ensuring that the people in charge of our children are physically located with our children.
“We will begin the process of engaging stakeholders on this option, and putting together plans to address all of these areas.
“These 5 areas will provide the building blocks for our way forward. My commitment for our Children and to the people of Bermuda is to keep everyone informed, as much as possible, as we look to move forward.
“As I’ve always contended, it is about our Children, and I will continue to be guided by the mantra, Our Children First.:
And another report gets shelved.
I guess its easier just to raise everyone’s taxes.
What a waste of F!@#ing film.
The UK government will close them when they take over. Politicians will permit insanity for their personal benefit. Cost must be cut! We hang separately or we hang together. Tick, tick, tick.
But we S!@#$ed out $77 million for a sailboat race !!!!!!!!!!!!!
You don’t know what you’re talking about AGAIN.
Elections are coming soon.
But we S!@#$ed out $77 million for a sailboat race !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really soon! I call it by the end of Fall 2016. Maybe after seeing who wins the US election?
No, they are going near full term. You forgot about the multiple large scale construction projects and AC35 all those need to get to full strength, injecting the millions into our economy and for all to be feeling it, offset by the COI, to cause havoc within the opposition and turn swing voters towards the OBA, which all points to late 2017.
So you get everyone all anxious and upset then we hear nothing for 3 months, then we hear nothing is changing…probably because an election is coming.
U complain when the govt don’t listen. The govt listened and took the advise of those concerned now you still complain.
Advice.
And after all the BS surrounding this for him to punk out at the last minute shows two things.
A. The minister has no backbone.
B. Election time soon lets keep the voters happy.
Exactly. They complain about lack of consultation. They complain about what they hear. Then they complain when it isnt carried through? Didnt you want a government that listens? Complaining for the sake of complaining.
we need people that went to public school to be in charge of public education. you cant look at the box from the out side and understand it.
Well, so much for that (good) idea. An election is, coming. But if you keep bowing down to the Loud Minority. You will lose respect and confidence. And perhaps the vote. I hope not
LMF again.
The political leadership of this government is appalling. No political will to make hard decisions. Keep running up bills, employing underperforming teachers, employing more highly paid internal consultants and you ultimately fail our children.
Underperforming teacher?
I’ll let you know that teachers in Bermufa work at least ten hours a day with no over time or incentive to do so other than the satisfaction they get from seeing their children succeed
And should they win the next election, all the schools they mentioned will be closed!
You have done well, Scotty.
You forgot that parents, the school children and teachers are ALL HUMAN.
Thanks for your lengthy time in forcing all of the above TO WAIT.
Job well done.
The debt ” can ” has been kicked further down the road! It has now been totally proven that neither party will address our dire fiscal problems! Sort of reminds me of that band that kept playing in the deck of the Titanic until the ship sank! Hope all are getting prepared for the ship HMS Bermuda to sink and never be seen again?
Go back home
It would be good to hear/read about the physical structure of our school bu ildings, that being said, what about the student levels. Can some portions of government be housed in our schools where there is increasing space as enrollment levels drop.. thousands upon thousands of dollars that go to the private sector monthly, as rent, can be used to maintain our schools. I app reciate the history and sentimental value attached to our schools, if they can serve another 20 to 30 years, all well and good. It,s nice to have virt ually all government departments centrally located, how-ever if you work in Dock-yard and need a permit to move a vehicle you have to lose 2 hours or more getting to TCD, waiting in line and returning to Dock-yard. Can this be done if government had a mini conbination of services in either end of the Island.
you wasted our timeUnike most people, I trusted you Minister Scott. yet you let me down.
All I can say is where were all your mouth when the last party was in and we had 13 education ministers and lots of friggin bandaids on all the school. They did nothing for education. I say lets get the money out of the PLP kitty for the all that needs to be done. We knew after the last election it would take years to recover from the debt and try and get us out of a friggin mess. Even if the PLP got back in were do you think they are getting the money from oh ya brown will come back with his pockets full of OUR MONEY to fix Your country. YA RIGHT between them all they should be here fixing what they F up especially Mrs Cox she was the finance minister. She was in charge of all your money our money. Stop being so negative all the time and start to help your country in anyway you can even if it means to help with fixing up the schools. God be with us all
Oh well – no chance to protest for the fake hunger striker.
Minister Scott,
You have announced a foregone conclusion… now for a harder task…
You have expressed your preference for a Bermudian Commissioner of Education. You are now in a position to make the difficult decision to emphasize your rationale to the Board of Education (and possibly the general public).
If there are any genuine weaknesses in the local candidates, they can be addressed by hiring the identified overseas candidate as a consultant to them for a limited period of 12 to 18 months.
The inevitable naysayers will disagree but common sense indicates it will take longer for a non resident to understand the nuances of Bermudian culture and our public school system than it will take to ‘correct’ any technical weaknesses of the local candidates.
What a WASTE OF OUR TIME!
Thanks for nothing.
We really need to take politics out of education! Decisions are made or not made depending on the political support it would garner and that is shameful! The truth is we don’t need so many primary schools with very poor building structures. It would be good to consolidate a few and make the consolidation easy for parents to assimilate to. For example, why not consolidate St. George’s Prep and East End. The schools are within yards of each other and it won’t tax parents to move their children. One school is steeped in success and can only bring the other school up to standard through a consolidation. If names matter, call the consolidated schools St. George’s East End Primary. Work a 3 year year plan to bring the school up to good construction standards, have two Principals and create a good succession plan, and utilize funds that were used on maintenance for one building towards the needs of the new consolidated school. This is not rocket science Minister!! Two other logical consolidations would be Somerset Primary with West End and Prospect Primary with Victor Scott. Also, Purvis with Heron Bay can easily be consolidated. Work a 5 year plan with these consolidations. You don’t have to do them all in one year. Maybe one consolidation a year and utilize lessons to do the next set even better! Stop pandering to emotions and political favor and let’s get real quality schools. The current buildings have old flooring and walls need to be opened. Electrical infrastructure must be redesigned to accommodate AC units and computers. Lastly, slim down the Ministry as Principals can run their own schools and answer to the Commissioner. The Commissioner can answer to the PS and the PS can answer to the Minister. The other roles are not needed. A few technical officers can administer the Cambridge exams (two maximum). Place those highly paid Directors in the classrooms to teach! Gosh…the upside is you can’t diminish their salaries but at least if they are placed back in the classrooms they would now work for their salaries in a meaningful way. Why can’t we just do what we know is long over due! Also put teachers on 5 year contracts renewable with the option to transfer them and terminated for poor performance. Yes, there will need to be re-negotiations with the BUT but unless you get started, another committee looking at another stupid 5 step plan is just a waste of more time and money to do nothing! Good grief!!