The new president of the CedarBridge Academy Parent Teacher and School Association has challenged MPs and senior members of Government to put their children into public education, instead of private schools.

Terry Flood was elected this week to take over at the helm of the PTSA and said among his goals was assuring parents that the CedarBridge campus was safe and secure for youngsters, as well as getting more parents involved in the education of their youngsters.

However, he also urged people in Government, the United Bermuda Party and high ranking civil servants to have more faith in the system.

He said: "It's time the people who make the decisions in this country lead by example and send their children to public schools.

"I want them to put their money where their mouths are. If public school is good enough for my child, then I want them to show me that it's good for their children, too. Too many of these people place their children in private education."

Taxi driver Mr. Flood, who has a 16-year-old daughter Terita at the school, said when he was president of Paget Primary School PTA he was totally against the idea of building a "mega school", such as CedarBridge, and favoured instead smaller secondary schools.

But he said now that CedarBridge was here, people on the Island had to make sure it had their full support.

He said: "I feel that our public school system is one of the best in the world and we can make it better if we have more parental support and involvement.

"I feel that there is a myth about public education in this country in that the private schools are better than the public schools. But I want to prove that wrong," he explained.

"I believe that I could match any private school pupil with a pupil from the public schools. We must start to have faith in the system.

"My concern is that those people who made the decision to build CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute put their children in private schools," he said. "They did not have a stake in it, and their concerns weren't fully at the heart of the public education system.

"I would like to see a Bermuda where the schools are fully racially integrated and where parents did not feel the need to send their children to private schools."

But Mr. Flood said it was time parents took more responsibility for their children's education, and said he hoped to improve the number of parents who were members of the CedarBridge PTSA, so that everybody was included.

He added: "Teachers go to school to teach; students go to school to learn; and parents go to school to parent.

"The students at CedarBridge are not the principal's children and they are not the teachers' children, they are our children. We, as parents, must do our part to ensure that CedarBridge is a successful school forever."

At the next PTA meeting on November 13, Mr. Flood is hoping to organise a panel of speakers, including a Police officer, firefighters, Secretary of the Corporation of Hamilton Roger Sherratt, and a member of the Road Safety Committee, to name a few.

And he urged parents from the school to turn out for the meeting, and to take the opportunity to ask the panelist's questions.

And the PTSA is also looking for parents to volunteer to accompany students home from school on public transport on Halloween.