Teachers will stage an emergency meeting on Monday amid fears they are becoming targets of youth violence.

They are expected to hammer out a battery of measures to present to Education Minister Jerome Dill.

The meeting -- following a string of incidents -- will be attended by teachers from schools across Bermuda. It starts at 4.30 p.m. at Dellwood Primary.

Bermuda Union of Teachers president Michael Charles told The Royal Gazette last night: "All members of the union have been invited to attend -- not just those from secondary schools.'' Youth violence was also discussed last night by the BUT's executive officers and the Association of School Principals.

"It wasn't an extraordinary meeting. It was really a prelude to Monday's meeting,'' said Mr. Charles.

"We've experienced a week of incidents and so obviously it was discussed.

"Hopefully, these incidents are just an aberration, but we tend to think not.

I fear it is a sign of things to come.'' Monday's meeting comes hard on the heels of Police being called out to two high schools.

The alert went out on the same day the Education Ministry announced that security guards will be stationed at three secondary schools.

The Royal Gazette has learned that Northlands principal Carol Bassett was verbally abused and threatened by a former student on Thursday.

Mrs. Bassett could not be reached for comment.

But Sandys Secondary principal Melvyn Bassett revealed that staff at his school had to summon Police when some older boys entered the property and became rowdy.

Mr. Bassett, who has expressed concern that Police were dragging their feet on an assault by a former student on him last summer, said: "We are spending lunch hours attempting to remove outsiders from our premises. And while we understand we have to protect students, we should not have to act as security guards.'' Education Minister Jerome Dill on Thursday announced that Warwick Secondary, Northlands and Whitney Institute will each have two security guards on duty from Monday morning.

The decision was sparked by a brutal attack on a Warwick Secondary teacher by a suspended student.

But Mr. Bassett said he believed the Warwick Secondary incident could have been avoided, if authorities would have acted swiftly on the assault against him.

"I feel very strongly that we had an opportunity to send a very powerful message that this community will not stand for violent behaviour against anyone of authority, particularly school officials, but we missed it,'' he said, referring to his attack.

"Until those incidents are addressed by Police and the courts, they will continue.'' Emergency meeting to be held on violence in schools In a poll taken by the The Royal Gazette officials in private and public schools said while they did not experience violent exchanges between students and teachers, their schools were not exempt from trespassing and loitering problems.

And they said the problem was generally caused by a small group of outsiders.

"I believe that as far as outsiders are concerned, they have always been a concern in Bermuda,'' Whitney deputy principal Gareth Davies said.

Mr. Davies said it was difficult to secure the Whitney property because of its location and he would welcome the tightening of security, particularly at recess and lunch times.

But the heads of Berkeley Institute, St. George's Secondary, Saltus, and Bermuda High School for Girls said they had come up with security measures to keep the problem under control.

Chairman of Berkeley Institute's board of governors Calvin White said parents have been helping staff keep duty at lunchtime.

"This has proven rather effective to date,'' Mr. White said. "However, we are still keeping the matter (school security) under close review.'' The teenager, who had been sent to the Learning Support Centre two months ago, he entered the school without permission.

A teacher told him to leave and the student rode him down on his bike and then hit him in the face as the teacher was lying on the ground.

Following the incident teachers at the school threatened to stop work on Monday unless security was tightened.

Mr. Steede added: "I was appalled by that incident. There is a very small nucleus of students who display inappropriate behaviour.

"The vast majority of our students are good children and it was the students who helped to stop that incident before any of the teachers arrived.'' He added: "It is very sad that we need security guards, but it is a reality.

"A lot of it stems from what happens at home and if a child is not taught the difference between right and wrong they think they can do whatever they like.'' Earlier this week Mr. Dill said the Ministry was waiting until the completion of a workshop by a visiting security specialist before deciding on what steps to take.

However he later made a U-turn and announced he was sending two guards to each of the three schools.

It is a pilot security programme, he said, and the guards will remain at the schools until the end of the term when the Ministry will "re-evaluate the need to keep them in place''.

Mr. Charles said Monday's meeting would be a chance for teachers to air their views and decide on a common approach to the problem of violence.

"I for one don't understand why security has only been placed at three schools.

"I don't know what the justification is for just picking out these three.

Security is needed at every school.

"I'm sure the kind of security we need will be one of the subjects discussed on Monday.''