Parents told school reform questions will be answered
Questions from concerned parents and stakeholders regarding public education reform will be “analysed and addressed”, officials have promised.
A meeting was held at Whitney Institute Middle School, a school slated for closure under the plans, on Monday.
While many questions raised during the meeting could not be answered by the hosts, Leeann Simmons, of the Education Reform Unit, and Terri Cox, of the Department of Education, audience members were promised that their questions would be analysed and addressed after the end of the “engagement sessions” this week.
Ms Simmons said: “After the last presentation hopefully this week, you will get the information after that. You want answers today and some of the answers I cannot give you today. All of these questions are being looked at, are being collated.”
The meeting took place the same day a video emerged of the Minister of Education, Diallo Rabain, apparently attempting to stop information being given to St George’s Preparatory School parents.
Many people attending were frustrated with the format of the meeting, which included an exercise where audience members had to get together in teams of two or three, prioritise a question and submit it via a QR code system with a view to the question being answered at a later date.
Members were also told that they could not record the information or share it outside the meeting.
They also criticised the fact that the education minister, and Kalmar Richards, the Commissioner of Education, were not present and gave pre-recorded video addresses.
One woman at the meeting said: “You ran presentations that no one could read. We can’t see what you have up there. You are reading stuff we won’t remember. It’s not being published. You are not communicating any information. You are wasting our time telling us what is going to happen and not answering our questions as to what is happening with our children.”
Some parents voiced concerns about primary schoolchildren being on the same campus as middle school students when the primary schools in St George’s are closed and all the students moved to Whitney in September 2024.
Ms Simmons said: “They will be separate on the same campus.”
Questions were also raised about the curriculum that will be adopted under the reform plans.
Ms Simmons said: “Straight up until S2 we will still continue to do our GCSEs at S2. Some of our students do them earlier. Cambridge [curriculum] is still, at this time, our main curriculum.”
Part of the reform plans involve the phasing-out of middle schools — two of the existing three middle school years will become primary years and one will become a senior year.
Ms Cox added: “You will note from the presentation from Ms Simmons that we have invited parents and teachers to be a part of it [the curriculum]. The core of it will remain the same among all parish primary schools, with components of what is happening at middle school now.
“The experiences may differ slightly because we are trying to improve the learning experiences around the curriculum. Yes, the curriculum will remain the same, the way that they get to the objective may be different.”
One grandparent asked what name will be given to a new exceptionality school in the works.
She said: “Dame Marjorie Hope Academy, which I was involved in … I would have a problem if you drop that name because Dame Marjorie was the lady who was instrumental in working with special education children in Bermuda.
“There is a history behind it. I think you are losing that as you transform the system.”
Ms Simmons said: “I do hope that that team working there recognises and hears the history behind that name.”
Kalmar Richards, the Commissioner of Education, said in a video address that a “collaborative and inclusive approach is necessary” throughout the reform.
“Families, students and staff from the same school and school communities will have individual needs and interests, and may be impacted in different ways. Over the next few weeks, senior staff at the Department of Education will reach out to impacted groups so that we can fully understand all of the implications of the timeline of education reform.
“We want to view the timeline through the lens and experience of staff, parents, guardians and students and use information that is shared with us to co-develop transition plans for each school community.”
She listed some areas of development under discussion: “The implications for school staff and school leaders for those schools that will be closed, merged and phased out; the social and emotional support for students and for staff; the transition of students with individual education plans or other additional needs; registration, enrolment, transfer processes, procedures and activities; class sizes; reallocation of resources, equipment and materials; school uniforms, transportation and communication including ongoing feedback.”
The Ministry of Education, the Department of Education and the Education Reform Unit have held the engagement sessions at about 30 schools to date to provide an update on timelines for the opening of all parish primary schools, closing of the remaining primary schools, the phasing-out of middle schools, introduction of new signature schools and the introduction of the signature exceptionalities and alternative programmes.
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