parents who took part in a one-day boycott at Dellwood Primary School last week.

"If it helps Government to realise the seriousness of their concerns, I applaud them,'' he said. "I don't think they were irresponsible. It was Government that allowed the schools to decline and are now having to spend millions on them.'' He also accused the Education Minister Dr. Clarence Terceira and former Education Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons of insensitivity for refusing to listen to parents' concerns.

However, he was unable to say if teachers at the school supported the boycott having not yet spoken with them.

In a terse statement yesterday, Minister of Education the Hon. Dr. Clarence Terceira announced that top Education officials would be meeting with Dellwood Primary School head Mr. Dale Butler early this week.

Education Permanent Secretary Mrs. Marion Robinson and Chief Education Officer Mr. Dean Furbert could be meeting with Mr. Butler as early as this morning to discuss the situation, Dr. Terceira said.

However, he would not elaborate on the content of the talks. Nor would he say if Government would be having talks with the Dellwood Parent Teacher Association which organised the protest.

Of 325 students at the school, 308 stayed at home last week in protest of a Government proposal to move primary students to Northlands.

A spokesman for ten of the 17 students that turned up for school said they supported the PTA but because of religious beliefs were forced to take a neutral stand.

PTA president Ms Amtullah Bashir called for a full disclosure of Government's plans to convert the former Technical Institute at Roberts Avenue into a sports facility. She claimed it would have made an ideal site for a middle school.

Yesterday co-chair of the Dellwood restructuring committee Mrs. Mary Samuels said Government had not contacted the PTA since the protest.

She said another boycott had not been planned since school is out on Wednesday, but, she added, meetings and strategies would be held throughout the summer and fall to discuss the situation.

"We have had a clear mandate from parents that they're not going to let it go,'' she said. "We have had a clear mandate to continue the fight.'' She added that parents had mobilised themselves "at the drop of a hat''. A flyer went out just two days before the boycott. Some parents only got wind of it the night before.

Both Mrs. Samuels and Ms Bashir claimed Dr. Terceira had only met with parents twice -- once to announce the move to Northlands.

"He has never once come to Dellwood to discuss Government policy,'' Mrs.

Samuels said. "He will only discuss Northlands. He will not listen to any alternative.'' She added that the boycott took many teachers, including the principal by surprise.

"The principal had nothing to do with it,'' Mrs. Samuels said.

Ms Bashir yesterday repeated demands that the Department of Youth and Sports should give a full disclosure, including a scale model, of plans for the Roberts Avenue site.