bound to have problems. It is a very unhappy circumstance for parents and students that a number of schools are not ready this year and cannot be occupied on time. However no-one would want Bermuda's children to be in any danger from construction still going on in the schools.

Anyone in Bermuda who has ever built anything knows that construction completion dates are a nightmare and impossible to predict. That is especially true when working with a restricted time frame and not much could be done to these buildings until school was out for the summer. The Minister and the Ministry remained optimistic to the end that schools would open on time but then the weather is as unpredictable as building finish dates and no one could have predicted August's heavy rains.

Rain was, however, not the only problem because there were also some shortages of furniture, equipment and school supplies.

There is a good deal of community cooperation over this setback, especially from a variety of churches willing to have their halls used to keep students busy until the schools are ready.

The one exception to the cooperation seems to be the Bermuda Union of Teachers. We think the union has decided to put politics above the children in an attempt to embarrass the Government over these delays. The children and their welfare should come first. Yet a very politicised teachers' union gives every appearance of attempting to aid the Progressive Labour Party at the expense of young students.

It is all very well for the union to say that Government did not listen and that they told Government the schools would not be ready on time. It is not all very well for them not to cooperate in caring for the children in a crisis.

We must point out that this is not a general reaction by teachers and that a number, notably at East End, have rallied and are supervising the students until school can resume. Despite a difficult summer for all teachers and the need to undergo workshops toward operating the new system, some teachers are willing to supervise the students even if the BUT thinks they should not.

BUT General Secretary Sen. Milton Scott has been quoted as saying: "We understand that parents need someone to supervise their children. But we are not supervisors, we are teachers.'' That seems a very fine line to draw.

This is a crisis. Teachers are not teaching and the great majority of parents work.

This situation results from Government's quite extraordinary attempts to benefit Bermuda's students. While there may yet be more delays, especially as we are threatened by a hurricane, the late school openings are not likely to happen another year. We think this is a situation where the Bermuda Union of Teachers and the teachers themselves could have been a real part of the solution instead of becoming another problem.