Warwick Academy's board of governors initially sought more than $1 million from Government for failing to maintain the school's buildings when it was a part of the public system, Education Minister Jerome Dill has revealed.

His revelation came on the heels of Shadow Education Minister Jennifer Smith's questions and concerns about Government paying $350,000 to Warwick which returned to a fully private school in September.

Noting that schools which chose to become private usually had to pay Government, Ms Smith said it was "unbelievable'' that Government was paying the school $350,000 as compensation for degenerating buildings.

"He did not tell us how much Government's initial bill to them was,'' she added. "It should be the other way around.'' Ms Smith also noted Mr. Dill never answered her supplementary questions in the House of Assembly about the number of buildings that Warwick had before it became a public school and the number of buildings it currently has.

But Mr. Dill told The Royal Gazette the maintenance fee which Government paid Warwick once it became a public school was "woefully inadequate''.

While not giving a dollar amount, he said: "This was so much so that the school wanted us to pay in excess of a million dollars. The figure of $350,000 was a negotiated compromise.'' Chairman of Warwick's board of governors Dr. Walwyn Hughes -- who recently took over that post and was not a part of the negotiations -- said while the board was not "jumping up for joy'' about the $350,000, it was satisfied with the settlement.

Former chairman of Warwick's board of governors Dr. John Patton, who was involved with negotiations, declined to discuss the matter.

Mr. Dill also pointed out he was not Education Minister at the time of the negotiations and he said he did not know if the maintenance problem was unique to Warwick Academy, which is the oldest secondary school in Bermuda.

But Berkeley Institute -- the Island's other academic, aided school, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1997 -- also required high maintenance.

Chairman of the school's board of governors, Mr. Calvin White, said the school required several hundred thousand dollars to maintain its buildings every year. And he said the grant from Government was "never enough''.

"Berkeley's plant is an old one and it takes many, many dollars just to keep it operative,'' Mr. White said. "The grant is never enough to allocate funds to effectively maintain the school.'' He added that Berkeley often had to look to "outside'' resources.

Noting the school would be a senior secondary school by 1999, Mr. White had no idea what it would cost to maintain.

"Maintenance costs will depend on the size of the physical plant,'' he said.

"It will depend on what buildings are maintained and which are knocked down.

I could not say until we at least know what the physical plant will look like.'' A subcommittee from the school was meeting with a Works and Engineering subcommittee to work such details out, Mr. White said.

"Hopefully within the next month or so we will have a preliminary design of what the Berkeley will look like.'' MR. DILL -- Figure was a `negotiated settlement'.