Mother `outraged' at CedarBridge enrolment delay
An outraged mother of three yesterday blasted a school for depriving her 14-year-old daughter of an education for two months.
And she has yet to receive clarification from CedarBridge Academy officials on when her daughter, who is still out of school, will be able to attend classes.
Kylie Paiva said: "Trying to get my daughter Tianna into CedarBridge Academy has been a major problem for me.'' Ms Paiva said her daughter started at Holy Angels High School in Nova Scotia, Canada in September of last year. But the parents of the family she was staying with split up and started divorce proceedings in early November.
Ms Paiva said she decided to bring her daughter back to Bermuda and on November 17 had her mother hand deliver a letter to Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher, seeking to enrol Tianna in CedarBridge Academy as soon as possible.
A second letter was faxed to Dr. Christopher on November 25 after the original disappeared and the department replied promptly stating that Tianna had been accepted and needed to register with CedarBridge.
Ms Paiva said Tianna returned to the Island on November 27 and she took her to CedarBridge to register on December 2 with the intention of getting her in school immediately. But she was told her daughter could not attend school until January 31.
"This was two months later,'' Ms Paiva said. "I said I was not satisfied with this because I did not want Tianna to be out of school for so long. I asked why it could not be earlier and they then told me to bring her in on January 4 which I did.'' Mother slams CedarBridge Ms Paiva said she dropped Tianna off at school but received a call two hours later from a guidance counsellor at the school who asked what her daughter was doing there as she was not due to start until January 31.
Despite her mother's pleas, Tianna was sent home and Ms Paiva spent the afternoon talking to school officials who told her to bring Tianna back to school the next day.
But Ms Paiva said: "I was told the same thing again. They told Tianna to go home for three weeks and come back on the 31st.
"I called the principal (Kalmar Richards) and I called Dr. Christopher. I have had no response from him but the principal called me back and told me that CedarBridge operated on a semester system which was why my daughter could not come to school until the next semester started on January 31.
"The people I spoke to at CedarBridge told me that my daughter being out of school for two months was better than her being in school for two months.
"Their attitude was that they could not be bothered.
"For them to tell me that it was better for my daughter to be home rather than in school is ridiculous.'' Ms Paiva said Tianna would not have enough credits when June came around to allow her to move onto the next year and said she asked school officials if Tianna could do the work to catch up before January 31.
Ms Paiva said she understood that CedarBridge officials met regarding her daughter's case on Monday but noted that she had yet to hear from them.
Ms Richards did not return messages left at the school for her yesterday.
Dr. Christopher could not be reached for comment last night.