Primary school fights to stay open
Staff and PTA executives at Gilbert Institute are holding an emergency meeting to come up with an action plan they hope will save the school from closure.
The Paget school is the island’s only one that provides services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing at primary level and faces being merged with Prospect Primary School, which is based in Devonshire.
Gilbert Institute was one of four schools earmarked by the Bermuda Government for potential closure as part of its school organisation (Score) plan.
The other schools are St David’s Primary School, Heron Bay Primary School and Prospect Primary School. Parents of the 130 students attending Gilbert Institute have been invited to attend a separate meeting this week to help find solutions. Principal of six years, Coraleta Dill, told The Royal Gazette : “There are children who thrive in small settings and Gilbert is one of those settings. There is always room for the small school and in this type of setting we can network more easily to meet the needs of the children.
“When I look at education period, I always say, data has a face. These children are individuals so how is it going to impact them?
“The students are already saying to me, ‘Mrs Dill, I heard Gilbert is closing but you are not going to let it close are you?’ I don’t know how to respond to them because I recognise the decision is not in any educators’ hands.
“I have encouraged parents to read the documents — there is a lot of anxiety about whether to register or not.
“We always get our numbers, we always have our maximum intake.
“We had an open house and many parents have chosen to register even in spite of this news. I would say that parents need to let their voices be heard. I would also encourage parents of all the schools to read the Score document and participate in the public town hall meetings.”
Gilbert Institute was singled out in the report as “a school with a notable need for resources”.
The Score Report said: “Most funding to ensure the success of the deaf and hard-of-hearing programme is provided by the school and its staff members. This includes funding for professional development from personal finances and fundraising proceeds. The qualitative data suggests that this has been the case for the last 27 years.”
Gilbert Institute Parent Teacher Association executive Suzanne DeCouto has a son with a hearing impairment attending the school and another son with a hearing impairment who graduated from there.
Ms DeCouto told The Royal Gazette : “The hearing-impaired teacher has been paying for items. We as a PTA try to raise as much money as we can but some of the things we just can’t pay for like the playground — our playground is dying.
“When we try to go to companies to see if they will sponsor us they don’t get back to us because of these rumours of closure. If it were to close, it would be a big loss not just to the school itself but to the whole community.
“Gilbert is the only primary school that is fitted for hearing-impaired children and all our teachers have been specially trained. We have got some really good ideas to save the school.
“When we were going to close down a few years ago Grant Gibbons [former Shadow Minister for Education] was very good in coming to the school and talking with the parents.”
Dr Gibbons, now Minister for Economic Development, spoke up in support of Gilbert Institute back in 2010 when it faced closure under the former Progressive Labour Party. “There’s a really good community of support here,” he said at the time. Dr Gibbons did not respond by press time to our queries over the school facing closure under his own government.
Lovitta Foggo, the Shadow Minister of Education, has branded the Bermuda Government’s plan to potentially close schools as “foolhardy, reckless and irresponsible”.
Ms Foggo was responding to the release on Monday of the full, 196-page school reorganisation (Score) report that highlighted four possible closures — St David’s Primary School, Heron Bay Primary School, Gilbert Institute and Prospect Primary School. The deadline for school registration ends tomorrow.
Ms Foggo urged parents to register their children at their first choice of school regardless of whether it is in the firing line, warning them not to “fall prey” to “possible motives” of the government.
Ms Foggo said in a statement this morning: “In view of the fact that no definitive decisions have been made, this announcement has caused anxiety and stress for parents of current students, prospective students, principals and teachers alike. This is unacceptable.
“With school registration beginning today, I strongly encourage parents to register their young ones in the school of their choice, within their zones. Do not be deterred from registering your young ones from those schools highlighted as possibly closing.
“The scenarios provided by the Score team and shared by the minister were not endorsements of closure. In fact, ‘closure’ was not a recommendation. If the careless comments made by the minister were designed to dissuade parents from registering their children at the named schools, please do not fall prey to that possible motive.
“Make certain that you do indeed register your children there, to avoid any low enrolment numbers which might in future become part of arguments for certain closure.
“The Progressive Labour Party is acutely aware that some tough decisions will have to be made surrounding education, however to put out a statement with no definitive information in it only serves to muddy the waters and cause confusion.”
