A TEAM of air quality engineers was drafted in by Government over the summer — but was told to focus on a contaminated lighthouse rather than a school housing hundreds of at-risk students and teachers, it has been claimed.And Government has now been charged with putting the welfare of tourists before that of CedarBridge Academy students, even though Ministers knew there was an air quality problem at the school.

The facility was shut down at the start of the month by Education Minister Randolph Horton because of "environmental health concerns".

It was later revealed that Government had been made aware of the problem 18 months ago while in July a team of inspectors recommended the school be shut down and decontaminated after potentially fatal aspergillus versicolor spores were found at the site.

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson (pictured)<$f"FranklinGothic-DemiCond"><\p>questioned Government's priorities during a debate in the House of Assembly on Friday night.

"Throughout the whole of this summer Government hired mould removal specialists to remove the mould from the lighthouse in Southampton," she said.

"They spent most of the summer — and I'm sure many thousands of dollars — doing this to protect our visitors and lighthouse staff.

"This is very commendable but the problems at CedarBridge were totally ignored.

"Our Parliamentarians in Cabinet have a very strange idea of priorities. A school with more than 500 students, plus teachers and support staff, had a mould and fungus problem confirmed by a microbiology consultancy from Texas which was ignored. The lighthouse was dealt with first.

"So much for protecting our children. Ignore sick teachers, make them find another job or put them on unpaid sick leave.

"Let us understand what the microbiology company offered this Government as advice and why CedarBridge Academy became the first school in the history of education in Bermuda to be closed during the school term — because of gross negligence in maintenance.

"Here is a long and sorry list of filthy conditions allowed to fester for at least two years. The maintenance contract for the roofs was ignored and cracks in the roof were not repaired."

It is understood that, following Mrs. Jackson's speech to Parliamentarians, nobody from the Government benches rose to respond to her remarks.Yesterday a Government spokesman would only confirm that a full independent inquiry into the scare would be conducted once the facility had been given the all-clear and students were back in their classrooms.

But Shadow Education Minister Neville Darrell, who witnessed Mrs. Jackson's speech, later said: "Any public health matter is an urgent one, whether it involves tourists visiting a lighthouse or students being taught in a classroom.

"But in terms of the weight of priority, I think in this case it was clearly misplaced.

"The Government should have resolved to get the school right first and I'm sure the public will now have broader concerns about what the Government's priorities are."

Jackson fumes over Govt.’s priorities