The man who led a $45,000 unprecedented study of the public school system will return to the Island next month to conduct a $10,000 progress report.

And The Royal Gazette has learned that William Poston will review staffing at the Education Department as part of a succession plan.

Mr. Poston, an associate professor of educational administration at Iowa State University, pointed out a slew of deficiencies in the system after he and his team visited the Island from September 22 to 27 in 1996.

And they listed 15 recommendations in order of priority.

But they stressed that the Ministry first needed to put a comprehensive public and staff participatory process in place.

"We recommended a comprehensive public and staff process for participation because we found that the major stakeholders did not have much input,'' Mr.

Poston told The Royal Gazette in May last year when the Ministry released the report.

The audit team's other recommendations included: Consolidating the Ministry on one central site and effecting changes in assignments for improved service and greater cost-efficiency; Restructuring roles and responsibilities of administrative personnel to ensure sound and effective organisational practices; Designing and implementing a comprehensive curriculum management system; Developing and implementing an information management and public relations programme, including hiring a "qualified information specialist''; and Adopting a four-year plan for implementation of a programme-based budget and allocation system to improve cost-effectiveness and efficiency.

An audit committee -- consisting of Ministers for Finance, Works and Engineering, Transport, Youth Development, and Education -- was appointed by the Premier to "prioritise and work through the recommendations''.

And last year former Education Minister Jerome Dill said he expected that the committee would meet every two weeks and make quarterly progress reports.

However, he refused to comment on specific findings in the report and said the Ministry "at a future date'' planned to produce a document outlining the areas in which it disagreed with the audit team's findings.

Such a document was either never produced or never made public.

But Education Minister Tim Smith this week stressed that work on the recommendations was quietly taking place.

"A Cabinet committee was formed to look at the audit,'' he said. "As with any good decisions it takes time. The Ministry has been very busy getting on with the recommendations. I believe everyone moved on with the best intentions.'' "We have decided to invite Mr. Poston back to conduct a follow-up review and an assessment of the implementation of the recommendations,'' Mr. Smith added.

The Ministry had discussed hiring another outside consulting firm to conduct the follow-up to Mr. Poston's report. But noting that would have cost some $50,000 to $70,000, he said it was logical to have Mr. Poston do it.

Mr. Smith pointed out that the Ministry has implemented a significant number of the recommendations.

This, he said, included: Developing a standing curriculum committee -- made up of educators, parents, and other members of the community -- in September, 1997 to oversee curriculum and instructional programming; Including students and teachers in decision making; Moving the Education Officer of Early Childhood Services post to report to the Senior Education Officer for Curriculum and Instruction; Implementing the curriculum management process in January; Conducting a census of the number of children eligible for the early childhood programme to determine the number of classroom spaces that must be provided; and Developing a timeline for special education officers to complete an evaluation of all aspects of the special needs programme.

The Ministry, however, has not completed a number of other recommendations, including: Consolidated its offices at one site; Adopted a four-year plan for implementation of a programme-based budjet; and establishing a public relations officer post.

"I'm impressed with the overall implementation of the recommendations,'' Mr.

Smith said.

But he admitted that the Ministry still had several "philosophical'' differences with some of the recommendations.

"Specifically the audit team recommended that a significant number of posts be abolished'' he noted.

"There has been a fundamental disagreement on philosophy. In order for us to find the common ground. We will engage them (the auditors) in the progress we have made and let them hear our philosophy.'' Pointing out that intentionally no dialogue took place during the audit, Mr.

Smith added: "But we would like to hear their rationale so we can make our rationale clear and he can make his decision based on this.'' The review, which is expected to be completed by the end of October, will also focus on the Ministry's staffing.

Mr. Smith said: "The reason we are doing that is because we have some important issues of succession planning. It is not about persons. It's about looking at posts which may become vacant over the next few years.'' And he pointed out that he plans to make the review public.

"My overall philosophy is that I'm committed to making the Ministry more accountable to parents, teachers, and the industries about us,'' Mr. Smith said.