The teachers union has claimed that educators have been subjected to pay cuts for speaking out and acting against staffing shortages and safety concerns at a school for children with special needs.

The Royal Gazette reported last month that staff at the Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy had staged industrial action, the entire student body being sent home at short notice, in relation to numerous issues at the school.

The Gazette also reported that Diallo Rabain, the Minister of Education, announced that plans to create a school for those with special needs, or “exceptionalities”, as part of education reform plans, will be accelerated after limitations with present resources were highlighted.

Now, the Bermuda Union of Teachers claims the same staff have been subjected to sanctions because of their advocacy.

The Government claimed at the time of the industrial action that it would work with teachers and their union representatives to “improve internal communications and any unauthorised actions”.

The Government has been approached for comment on the latest matter.

Dante Cooper, the general secretary of the BUT, said in a statement on November 7: “The BUT is dismayed today by the Department of Education’s haste to enact sanctions against teachers in the Bermuda public school system.

“Recent comments in the press about efforts to accelerate the formation of a transformation team for the school for exceptionalities, with the goal of better serving students requiring specialised support, ring hollow when the DoE moves to deduct pay from the staff at Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy at the same time the comments are made public.

“Talk of this acceleration largely occurring because of staff’s advocacy for students through written, verbal and other forms of action borders on hypocrisy when it comes on the same day that staff received notice they will be deducted for that very same advocacy.

“The irony heightens when we consider the many months that the Dame staff has had the same grievances — serious safety concerns that have gone unaddressed for a dangerous amount of time.

“Yet, pay deductions come swiftly, and with little-to-no consideration of the desperation that the Dame staff has lived with daily.”

Mr Rabain said previously that plans for the signature school for those with special needs, which included the closure of Prospect Primary School at the end of the 2025 academic year to house it, would be sped up.

Under new plans, some services may be ready at Prospect by next September.

“This change will better support our students’ needs as demand grows at Dame,” Mr Rabain explained.

“To support this, we are moving forward with the work needed to develop and transform the Prospect Primary site to provide specialised support and dedicated facilities.”

He said renovation schedules would be shared as the project progressed.

Mr Cooper said since that the department was prioritising wage deductions over addressing the issues at hand.

He said: “Many of the issues — communication, transparency, leadership and safety – remain unresolved at this point.

“Further, we find it interesting that the DoE is able to organise wage deductions for the pay period immediately following this action but teachers across the system are still awaiting payment for work completed in September 2024.

“Also, teachers are awaiting contracts, multiple classrooms are without teachers or proper ventilation, there’s broken or inadequate equipment everywhere, some teachers are awaiting re-categorisation that the Commissioner of Education [Kalmar Richards] signed off on last school year, and the list goes on — but penalising staff for student advocacy gets actioned with priority.”