CedarBridge Academy students unable to attend their contaminated school are to be shipped out to islands for a three-day week of ?classes and activities? starting on Monday.

The Ministry of Education released its contingency plan for the 800-plus pupils yesterday afternoon ? almost 48 hours after closing the school gates because of ?environmental health concerns?. It revealed that students will be taken to Paget, Port?s and Darrell?s islands on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Classes for final year students will also be held at Bermuda College. There will be no school on Thursday and Friday and the following week is half-term. Students have been told they can wear their PE kits and casual pants, although they must still wear t-shirts in the school colours ? either red, blue or gold ? and sneakers if they are going to the harbour islands. They must also bring along ID and any outstanding assignments.

New Education Minister Randy Horton acknowledged last night after a meeting with parents that some complained they were kept in the dark for too long over what was happening.

?I apologise for that. We are not perfect. I apologised that they did not get the information immediately,? he said.

Mr. Horton took the decision to shut the Island?s largest public school after reports of illness among teachers. No date has been earmarked for it to reopen as yet. This newspaper revealed yesterday that the potentially deadly fungus aspergillus was found on CedarBridge premises more than three months ago by specialists brought in from the US.

Sources claim that as many as 20 staff members have been taken sick.

A meeting was held for concerned parents at Bermuda College last night, which was so well-attended that there was standing room only in the large lecture theatre venue.was refused permission to attend by Government officials. However, it is understood that a briefing was given by Mr. Horton, CedarBridge Principal Kalmar Richards and Brenda Davidson, a senior medical officer at the Department of Health.

Parents were given information about potentially harmful fungi, mould and bacteria which, according to some teachers is at the root of health problems.

Mrs. Richards informed them that experts from overseas were being brought in to tackle the mould issue.

After the meeting, she said the classes and activities next week would include both academic lessons, ?enrichment? activities such as talks by visitors, and workshops.

?I have asked teachers not to make it traditional class learning,? she said, explaining the move out of school was ?an excellent opportunity to do some things out of the box?.

She pledged that no student would be disadvantaged by the school shut-down and said she was satisfied with the way the affair has been handled.reported yesterday that some teachers are claiming there have been long-standing environmental problems at CedarBridge

Asked how long she had known of problems, Mrs. Richards said she was aware six people had suffered symptoms that could be linked to environmental problems ?over the past few weeks?.

She said a teacher reported concerns two years ago, but tests had indicated no cause for concern.

She said there was another ?isolated case? of this kind in March or April this year.

She added that concerns again began to be raised about staff illness from September this year and an investigation was begun on site ?in the last couple of weeks?.

A report by US experts leaked to this newspaper showed they had deemed more than three months ago that the school had a contaminated atmosphere.

On July 15, according to the report, Microbiology Specialists Inc. had a meeting with school facilities manager Ross Smith, Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher, Connie McHardy, the chairman of the Board of Governors and Mrs. Richards, to discuss samples taken at the school.

Asked about the timeline of events, Mrs. Richards said: ?We were fortunate enough to meet with someone this summer.

?She heard there was a teacher who was claiming that there was mould. She did not do anything formal and didn?t do formal testing.?

Speaking about the reaction of Mr. Horton after his appointment as Minister of Education on Monday, she said: ?The Minister was very concerned. On Tuesday he came up to the school and did a personal inspection.?

Asked about the timing of the school closure ? which staff and parents found out about via a news bulletin on Wednesday night ? Mr. Horton said he made the decision that day based on information that teachers were sick.

Asked how many people were thought to have suffered health problems, and how long the school had been aware of possible problems, he said he did not know but that an investigation was being carried out.

He also confirmed that the air quality would be checked at every other school on the island as soon as the issue at CedarBridge has been dealt with.

However, he said he did not personally have concerns about the air quality at other schools.

Prior to his comments, the Bermuda Union of Teachers had called for all the Island?s public schools to be tested for mould and said those found to be harbouring harmful fungi and bacteria should be cleaned and independently assessed.

General Secretary Mike Charles said: ?We have had mould at other schools and I think what needs to be done is that we need all school buildings to be checked...they are old, they are full of moisture.

?In the schools here we have such a high incidence of asthma and respiratory problems and that could be a cause but we don?t know and we won?t know until a full, independent study is made. Since we are going down this road we might as well get it looked at.?

He said he thought the Ministry and school had not taken the problem at CedarBridge seriously enough but was now tackling it in the right way.

Mr. Charles said the contingency plan would keep students occupied and was the best that could be expected in the circumstances.

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson said yesterday that if the report drafted by Texas-based Microbiology Specialists Inc. in July recommending how to tackle the mould problem over the summer break had been ignored it was ?criminal?.

Mrs. Jackson said: ?First you spend the people?s money to get a consultant and then you don?t pay them any mind. That?s downright criminal.?

She added: ?What we are dealing with here could be life or death. An asthmatic person could die from such a thing. We are not talking about somebody getting a rash. They should have acted immediately to close the school down. They had all summer to clean it up. I don?t understand why they didn?t use that time.?