School Groups To Hold Meeting This Evening

Noting they are “deeply disturbed to learn of comments made”, St George’s Preparatory School PTA said they have joined with West End Warriors to “co-host an urgent meeting” at 6.30pm this evening [April 27] and said they “are calling on PTA representatives of any concerned school to attend this meeting.”

A spokesperson said, “The St George’s Preparatory School PTA is deeply disturbed to learn of comments made by the Minister of Education and Mr. Phillip Butterfield, Chairman of Bermuda First, which demonstrate that the St. George’s Prep community has been deliberately excluded from the education reform process.

“We have been contacted by numerous other schools to express their disgust with the comments made by Minister Rabain to “be wary of St. George’s Prep”, to support our calls for information about the parish primary school proposal, and to demand better governance of public education.

“The Minister has attempted to minimize and dismiss his deeply concerning remarks by stating that they were taken out of context. Regardless of the context, the Minister’s comments betray his prejudice towards our school and his contempt for true parent consultation which should be alarming to all school communities.

“Furthermore, this recording has come to light in the wake of the eastern primary schools being presented a profoundly disruptive transition plan that has inflamed concerns and further undermined confidence in primary school reform. Our numerous concerns include the fact that the Board of Whitney Institute has not yet agreed to their site being used to house the three eastern primary schools.

“The St George’s Prep PTA fully acknowledges the need for education reform. However, the promise of parents being partners in the process of reimagining our children’s education has been broken. The Minister’s comments severely undermine his credibility, as well as that of the newly created Governance Committee, and raises questions about whether the members of that committee have the integrity to participate in any aspect of Bermuda’s school redesign process.

“We have therefore joined with West End Warriors to co-host an urgent meeting this Thursday, the 27th of April, at 6:30pm. We are calling on PTA representatives of any concerned school to attend this meeting. The aim of this meeting is to share our concerns and form a collective voice. Interested PTA representatives are asked to email ourschoolsbermuda@gmail.com to confirm their attendance and receive the location of the meeting.”

#Education

Category: All, News