CedarBridge Academy students are on track to resume relocated classes on a ?close to normal? schedule, education officials have confirmed.

Principal Kalmar Richards said: ?Our goal is to return from the midterm holiday and resume a normal schedule. Thanks to an extraordinary team effort, it looks like we are close to doing just that.?

The school is currently closed as clean-up crews work to improve air quality levels after a mould scare forced the shut-down.

Bermuda College and the former Berkeley Institute have been offered as alternative sites when classes start again after the half-term break, on November 20. S1 to S3 students will go to the former Berkeley site, while S4 will attend Bermuda College. A statement from the Ministry of Education also said teachers and administrators from CedarBridge had spent much of Friday and Thursday assessing how they could continue the education of the students in those two locations with only ?slight modifications? to the normal school schedule. Final arrangements are expected to be rubberstamped tomorrow.

The statement did not give any new information about how long CedarBridge was expected to be closed by the mould crisis, which some teachers believe has affected their health.

Minister of Education Sport and Recreation Randy Horton told the House of Assembly on Friday that he was first made aware of the mould problem at CedarBridge when he took his new job.

Later in the parliamentary session, former Premier Alex Scott also moved to distance himself from the controversy surrounding CedarBridge. He said he was not aware of the problems at CedarBridge while he was in the top job.

Meanwhile, Mr. Horton also repeated his pledge the school will not reopen until it was confirmed safe and healthy for pupils by experts at the Ministry of Health.

In a statement to MPs, he said: ?The school will reopen once the rooms have been cleared of the offending mould and once we have received verification from the Department of Health that the room is safe and suited for occupancy by our students and staff.?

He added that no students would be disadvantaged academically by the temporary closure. Mr. Horton said that he was made aware of environmental health concerns at the school when he became Education Minister some ten days ago. A visit to the school revealed that carpets had been removed from some rooms, while a small number of mould-hit rooms had been shut off.

After meeting senior education officials, a recommendation was made to Mr. Horton that, rather than make ?piecemeal? attempts after school hours to rectify the situation, a ?wholesale effort? should be made to bring the building back to an ?acceptable level?, he told the House. The Minister apologised again for announcing the decision to close on the evening news, while people were still inside CedarBridge, but assured the public that the decision had not been made at 3 p.m. on that afternoon, before children went home. Education officials said parents and students can find regular updates about the CedarBridge situation on the Government website ? www.gov.bm ? or they can call 278-3304 with queries