Randy Horton must be wondering what happened to the "honeymoon" Cabinet Ministers traditionally enjoy when they take on a new job.

Mr. Horton had hardly got his feet under the desk at the Education Ministry when he was confronted with the mould problem at CedarBridge Academy and the possibility that students and teachers were being infected.

So far, the handling of the closure has been far from ideal, although this cannot be laid at Mr. Horton's feet.

But the confusion surrounding the late announcement of the closure on Wednesday night, coupled with the lack of contingency plans for the students have all the appearances that the Education Ministry had reacted at the last minute to fears that the story was leaking out.

That was not the case, and it would appear that Mr. Horton rightly made the decision to close the school when he was apprised of the problem, both because of the risks keeping it open would pose to students and teachers and because of the impossibility of conducting the remediation work around a still-functioning school.

Once that decision was made, it would clearly have been wrong to leave the school open while alternative arrangements were made.

In addition, it is fortunate that the students were due to go on half-term break shortly, so that gives Government some breathing room to do the work needed to restore the school to a healthy environment.

Still, serious questions remain to be answered about how the situation was allowed to get this bad, and it is good that Mr. Horton has promised a review.

But it is a fact that teachers and others have been complaining about the conditions for two years. And it is a fact that a study was submitted in July that showed there were serious problems. Worse, the study also showed how the problem could be fixed, and if it had been acted upon, the situation could have been remediated before the school re-opened in September.

But virtually nothing happened. Bizarrely, a decision was taken to clean five classrooms "in the last few weeks", with seemingly no thought being given to the fact that in a fully air conditioned school, the mould could move throughout the building.

Now that some of the facts are out, it is utterly depressing to watch various Government officials dodge and weave and fail ? or refuse ? to answer legitimate questions that the children, parents, teachers and the general public have the right to know about.

The public has the right to know how long the school's administration, the Education Ministry and the Health Ministry have known about this problem and why they failed to act sooner. There are two Education Ministers who, according to Shadow Education Minister Nelson Darrell, did know about the problem and claimed it was being dealt with. Either they were misinformed by their civil servants or they were being extraordinarily cavalier about the health of the people in their charge.

This week, Premier Ewart Brown (who has not yet been heard from) promised greater public accountability. He now has the chance to put the money where his mouth is by ensuring that a full review of this mess is carried out, that anyone who neglected their duties is held accountable, and that both the review and the actions carried out as a result are made public.