On June 20 and 21, all middle schools received acceptance letters outlining how many students were to be expected for the 2019-20 school year. Acceptance letters were distributed to allow schools to plan at the site level, order resources and establish class schedules before the start of the first day of school.

Additionally, middle-school principals were consulted on the staff they would receive for the new school before redeployment letters being sent to staff on June 28.

Before school closed for the 2018-19 school year, middle-school principals had a full understanding of student numbers and staffing as it related to the placement of students and teachers from TN Tatem Middle School.

To assist with this transition, Dellwood Middle School was provided with a second administrative assistant, who was redeployed from TN Tatem. An additional, non-teaching deputy was also assigned to Dellwood for the month of September.

TN Tatem School parents were fully engaged in the process regarding student placement. It was very important to give parents a choice in this matter. M1 and M2 parents completed applications for their choice of middle school, with the deadline set for June 12.

A separate meeting was held with new M1 parents on June 19, and they were also given an opportunity to make a choice on their preferred middle school.

Parents of students who are in functional skills and functional academics special education programmes attended separate meetings to ensure expectations were met for their school of choice for September. Zoning practices for placing students was considered, with the majority of students being placed at Sandys Secondary Middle School. Students who preferred other middle schools were placed close to the central and eastern zones.

Teachers were also engaged during this process, with the understanding that students would be placed first based on parental choice.

The majority of TN Tatem teachers who were initially placed at Dellwood for the rest of the 2018-19 school year requested to remain at Dellwood during the teacher consultation period, which was conducted between June 11 and 14.

Based on results from the consultation, Dellwood received the majority of redeployed core-subject teachers — maths, science, language arts and social studies. Previously, Dellwood had four core-subject teachers per year level.

Additional teachers assigned from TN Tatem provided an opportunity to have a fifth core-subject teacher at each year level, allowing for five sections of each core subject and smaller class sizes.

The addition of teachers resulted in teachers sharing instructional spaces, but the overall format was based on a student-first model, with the most important variable being the quality of teaching, not the ownership of classroom space.

With this model, core teachers are given ample planning time so that if they are using a shared space, they can allocate personal and team-planning time accordingly.

The Department of Education put together a team to assist the Dellwood leadership with reviewing scheduling options.

The recommendations were shared with the Dellwood leadership team, which has the ultimate responsibility of the schools’ schedule.

An information technology representative from the Department of Education was assigned to Dellwood to ensure any outstanding issues with IT were addressed; the IT Technician is still stationed at the school to assist.

To date, the following has been confirmed:

• Internet access — a full upgrade of the fibre optic system is complete. All students and staff are experiencing faster internet speed and connectivity

• Computer access — 100 per cent of school staff has access to computers

• Printers — 100 per cent of printers are operational

• Telephone system — 100 per cent of school staff has access to phone service

The DoE can confirm that the Commissioner of Education, and the DoE facilities manager, Dwayne Caisey, met with principals at CedarBridge Academy on January 17 regarding the 2018 Schools’ Inspection Report.

At that time, the Facilities Section was tasked with ensuring that each school principal received a copy of their school’s health and safety report by the end of day on January 18. This task was achieved and confirmed in writing three days later.

The DoE is committed to ensuring that all Bermuda public school facilities, staff, students and parents receive quality service and attention.

We will continue to take steps to ensure open communication between schools, the DoE and the Ministry of Education remain open and transparent. It is important that a collaborative environment where our students come first is at the centre of all communication going forward.

•Kalmar Richards is the Commissioner of Education