March 4, 2019

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So, Mr. Chairman, looking at the Bermuda
Tourism Outlook 2019, the air capacity for Bermuda
from 2015 to 2018 has incr eased. The 2019 projections have a 4 per cent decrease. And I would just be
interested to know why those numbers are going down. On what basis do they project a decrease?
The strategic priorities for the BTA are the
emphasis on the non- summer seasons, which I understand and appreciate, and empowering Bermudians to participate in the tourism industry. And one of
the interesting things, just in going through the notes
that I have read, is that . . . and I actually participated
in a lot of the National Tourism Planning sessions.
And one of the things that always comes up is that Bermuda suffers from a “culture of no. ” So, we actually like to go to other places and do things and enjoy
things that make us have a good vacation. But we do
not want to have those same things in Bermuda. So,
we have to kind of open up our minds and broaden
our minds.
And I think the BTA is trying to do that in
terms of bringing things to Bermuda that are not tradiBermuda House of Assembly tional, but will create jobs for Bermudians, which is our
number -one thing, and also create a tourist exper ience so that people will want to continue to return to
Bermuda. So, I think that Bermudians getting involved
and participating in tourism and actually being tourism ambassadors is a good thing.
The BTA, in their outl ine, has set out a number of signature events for Bermuda. And they actua lly sound really interesting. They have got the Berm uda Triangle of Sailing. They have got the Marion Ber-muda Race, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, and the Bermuda Triple Crown Billf ish Tournament. And I
would like to know what a “ billfish ” is, because I have
never heard of it.

[Laughter]

The National Trust Talk: The
Bermuda Gombey festival. But they have, you know, a bunch of things that are going on. And one of the
things that I would like for Bermudians to do is to recognise that tourism is not just for people who come
here. There are a lot of experiences and things that
are offered by the BTA that Bermudians should take
advantage of. And I am speaking to mysel f, as well,
because they do offer things that I should participate
in, but I do not.
I was out the other night having dinner . And I
sat beside this young woman who actually told me that she runs a food tour programme. I did not even
know that Bermuda had food tours. She said it has
been quite successful. And I participate in food tours
when I travel. But she said it has been quite succes sful, and the people enjoy the restaurants, and the i nteraction with the waiters and the owners of the restaurant. One thing that I would like to say is that I
would like to see more Bermudians in the restaurant
industry so that people could have a true Bermudian
experience. And I think that if we can get Bermudians
interested in the hospitality and tourism industry, as
they were many years ago, it would create a better
Bermudian experience.
I know when I travel, I want to go where the
locals go and I want to be with the local people. I do
not want to travel to India and meet Japanese people
serving me in the restaurant. And I am not saying that discriminatorily. But it just adds to the experience and
the genuineness of the experience when you have the
people who actually live and work there.
So, the Tourism Authority is also looking at
doing some arts and cultural events. Some of them I
have been to, the Fashion Festival, the Art Walk, and
Gombey Saturdays. And in their Strategic Action Plan,
they have a plethora of ideas that I think will be very
attractive to people who want to come to Bermuda
and participate. I note that their Visitor Service Centre
should be opening up in April. I would like to know
whether or not we are on track for that to open up. I have been watching the development of that building
down on Front Street.
Mr. Chairman, the other day I went on the
BTA’s website and found that they have (if I can read
from it) “21 Free or Affordable Things to Do in Berm uda.” And these are things that I did not even know
they had. The “21 Free or Affordable Things to Do in
Bermuda” from the BTA website, things to do on our
Island. So, there is a Skirling Ceremony at Fort Hami lton. Did you know they had a skirling ceremony? Do you know what a skirling ceremony is?

Well, the skirling ceremony is
where they have kilted pipers, drummers and dancers
perform to the bagpipe skirl of the Bermuda Island Pipe Band. I did not even know that. And that is every
Monday through the 31
st of March at twelve o’clock. I
did not even know they had that.
You can visit the Unfinished Church. There is
a tour of the Perfume Factory, Bermuda Gombey R evue, Birdwatch at Spittal Pond, hiking up to Fort Scaur and God’s country, the home of the cup. You can a lso—

There is the Featherbed Alley
Print Shop, and there is a place where you can go,
Rock Island Coffee, where you can sip locally roasted
coffee. So, there are a lot of things that people can do
when they come to Bermuda. I am actually proud of
Bermuda and the things that the BTA has actually accomplished.
Finally, before I get into the numbers, Mr.
[Chairman], and the National Tourism Plan . . . they
have identified things that they would li ke to do and
areas that we need to focus on as a country. So, their
executive summary sets out some of the challenges. And some of the challenges, and again I spoke to this
earlier . . . the key challenges that most people have
are reducing the effects of seasonality, so it is actually
enjoying Bermuda no matter which season it is; regulation; and then the negative mind- set, the culture of
no. So, we have got to be able to be accepting of
change and be accepting of things that are going to
make Bermuda a jurisdiction that people want to come
to. And the cost of doing business and taxes —so, how
do we balance the cost of doing business here and
having a pleasant experience with taxes and things
like that?
Now, from a shareholder perspective, the
Bermuda shopp ing experience is that people want to
see more Bermudian things in the stores. Some peo740 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ple do not come to Bermuda to shop. I know when I
travel, I go to shops.

[Cost centre] 58000, Administr ation. So, in 2017, Mr. Chairman, there was a payment
made of $100,000 to the Bermuda Sailing Trading
Association for the Tall Ships Regatta. And I know
that the tall ships are not coming. But what happened
to that $100,000 allocation? Has that money been
allocated to do something else? In 2018, it was antic ipated that our spending would go up to $59,800 for
cruise tax revenue dollars. Have we seen that i ncrease—

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Chairman, if you
do not mind.

Okay. The tourism plan is to i ncrease visitor arrivals in Bermuda to 428,000 by the
year 2022, and in 2018 we are five years before that goal date. Is that number s till anticipated? Do we still
think that we are going to be able to make that? And I say that just in that we are looking at a decrease for
2019 for air arrivals.
The Disney Magic cruise ship came here five
times this year. Did we see an increase in our r evenue, because it was anticipated that, when those
boats called here, those are people who actually were
spending money and would spend money? So, did
they add any increase to our revenue?
The Norwegian Breakaway was replaced with
the Norwegian Escape. A nd that ship had a capacity
for 500 more visitors. Did those 500 more visitors actually spend more revenue in Bermuda? And if they
did, what was the projected amount and what was the
actual amount?
In St. George’s, the first cruise call, it was anticipate d that St. George’s would have 50 cruise calls
in 2018. Did they actually have 50 cruise calls in 2018,
and what was the revenue that was generated from
that?
Mr. Chairman, it is hard to . . . I am going to
go down to [cost centre] 58010, the Transportati on
Planning Team. And the last transportation management report was in 2002. That report actually highlighted some things from a public survey that was taken from the Bermuda public. So, I am going to ask
whether these things are still relevant. And if you
would allow me to read, please, from the [Official] Hansard [Report] at 2
nd of March 2018?

[Pause]
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. [Chairman], with
all due respect, we are doing the Budget Debate,
right? When you want to talk on an item, you have got
to lay out the line number, the head, and everything
else. You are doing reports? All of that should have
been in general debate. We are dealing with the
budget, Revenue and Expenditures.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, I have been following the Member as she has spoken to matters that
are in the brief that the Minister, quite rightly . . . well,
we appreciate his sharing. I did not have a problem
with the questions that she was asking. They were relevant to what was presented by the Minister. And I
was able to follow. In fact, I actually turned to page 11
when she was making reference to questions related
to the cruise ships, which were there.
But, Member, if you can keep y our rhetoric
succinct as you relate to the Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So, Mr. Chairman, it is kind of difficult. Last
year, tourism and transport were contained in the
same Ministry. And so, one of the things that I would
like to know, and I may have to wait until Friday when
we do the Transport debate, is, as we are trying to
increase our tourism revenue and trying to increase our air lift numbers and the people who are contri bBermuda House of Assembly uting to our economy, we have to make sure that our
transportation system is working. So, I would like to
know what the Transport Management Team is doing
in terms of working out how we can increase —

Okay. So, I will go back to [costs
centre] 5 8000 under Administration. And last year’s
budget, there was a funding of $400,000 that was
ring-fenced for an initiative for Bermudians. And that
was going to be in partnership with the hospitality i ndustry. And I would like to know if further funds will be
allocated for that, and how that project worked for
2018. There was $100,000 that was allocated for the BTA’s Beach Economy vision. Is money going to be
allocated for that? What is happening with the Beach
Economy vision? Is there going to be anything t hat is
going to be going on with that?
Mr. Chairman, the BTA received $7.9 million
in direct income last year. And I would like to know what they received this year in terms of direct income.
Mr. Chairman, last year there was, under,
again, 4801, Admini stration, 58000, a $37,000 i ncrease in professional services. And there was money
set aside for the Bermuda Event Authority. Has money been set aside again for the Bermuda Event A uthority? And if it has been, what is it? Because I do not
see it listed in t he grants section.

Okay. Thank you.
So, Mr. Chairman, on page B -196, under
Grants and Contributions, last year there was a grant
to the Bermuda Hospitality Institute. And because
Grants and Contributions is an aggregate number, will they be receiving a grant this year? The Visitor Services Centres also got a grant under last year’s budget. Is that included in this aggregate number? The N ational [Service] Standard Programme and Certified Tourism Ambassadors Programme also got a grant. Is
that included in this aggregate number?
[Pause]

I am just looking for . . . I am not
sure whether this would come under communications. In the grant for last year, there was a commitment to
strategise on previous spending to maintain the m omentum of the tourism comeback. So, I do not know
whether that w ould fall under communications . . . or
advertising and promotion.
And I think that I do not really have any further
questions, Mr. Chairman. A lot of what I wanted to ask
has been covered in the brief by the Minister. And a
lot of the other questions that I want to address will
come under the Transportation head on Friday.
I have some questions, but I am not sure . . .
okay. This will come under training. There is a cert ified waiter/server programme. I would like to know
what the status of that is, and i s that included in the
training budget?

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Chairman, you
know —

I am not sure whether these
would come under Training. But there was a certified
waiter/server programme in 2018. Do they still have


Bermuda House of Assembly that programme, and if there is that programme, is
that number included in the Training budget?
And again, page B -196, again under Training,
there was the Tourism Ambassadors Programme. We
had tourism ambassadors, 400 people. Is that pr ogramme still existing? Is money being allocated for
that?
Again, under . . . I am not sure what this
would come under. Last year, they had the Neigh-bourhood Beautification Project. I am not sure exactly
what that would come under, under the Subjective Analysis? And then, this would, I guess, come under
Training. There was an internal rotation development
programme. Does that programme still exist?

Yes, under Tourism, page B -196,
under T raining. As I said, I am not sure what specific
line item that would come under. I would think that it is
Training. Do they have that programme, and is it still in existence? What were the results of the previous
programme?
And I think that is all of the questions that I
have for the Minister under this, Mr. Chairman. And I apologise for any confusion that I have caused to the
Members by not, I guess, identifying the items the way that they need it, to be able to follow.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Chai rman: All right. Thank you, Shadow Minister.
This debate started at 10:18. It is a four -hour
debate. We are one hour into this debate.
I will share one thing for clarification. For persons who speak further, Tourism and Transport under
Head 48 is a grant to the Bermuda Tourism Authority.
So, anyone who speaks on Tourism, as I have done
for many years in this House, knows that there are no
line items that are associated. So, there may be questions. I have exercised some latitude, knowing that
questions wi ll arise that might not be covered by a line
item. And certainly, for the edification of a very i mportant topic, I have seen some things in the brief. I
know those particular line items are under that grant,
but would not be covered in this book. But I appreciate
the Deputy Speaker keeping me on track to be able to point those out as I am doing so now.
So, I would encourage Members to relate to
the line item. And if it is something that comes under Tourism, that would be under the BTA or Event A uthority or any other Authority that is listed, to make the
relevant reference so that persons listening and other Members can follow you, as well. And as you relate to
the Subjective Analysis on relevant pages, make
those reference points, as well.
There are three hours remaining for this four -
hour debate.

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Chairman, can I? Mr. Chairman, I would just like to clear som ething up. There is the allocation of four hours. But if
the debate takes two hours, that is it. It does not have
to last four hours.

No.
Members. The Deputy Speaker, actually, for
clarification, does allocate the Chairs, which is why I
am here. So, I am guided by his reminder.
And I am here to share that we have three
hours remaining. Would any other Member care to speak to Head 48 that we are on? It is a three- hour
debate.
Any other Member?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Chair recognises the Honourable
Member from constituency 10.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, sir, 10. Always a 10.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I thank the Honourable Minister
for the brief which he presented today. Just a few
questions : The Honourable Minister menti oned $2
million set aside in the next financial year for the Bermuda Triathlon that comes up at the end of April.
Could the Honourable Minister please give some spe-cifics on how this $2 million is going to be spent?
Also, the Honourable Minister and the S hadow Minister did touch on cruise ship arrivals. And I
congratulate the Government on continuing the trend
to increase cruise ship arrivals. Whereas there always
is a debate about the profitability and what they do for
Bermuda, I think all of us in this C hamber are well
aware of the fact that cruise ships, while they might
not be as good for business as air visitor arrivals, they
certainly are very strong for our economy. And, certainly, the Government capitalises on the taxes.
And the Minister did go to some length to talk
about the change in taxes. I would ask the Honour able Minister if he could just give a breakdown on how
we arrived at those specific numbers. And if you
would allow me to give a little context, Mr. Chairman—

Thank you. Thank you.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: But, Mr. Chairman, it is
obvious that Government is going to raise a significant
amount of revenue. And I think we have the potential,
over the coming years, to capitalise on the strength of
the cruise industry in Bermuda, even though it is a shortened season because it is tough cruising the
North Atlantic from December to the end of March.
But Government has seen fit to increase taxes on
them. And I am sure that there was some back -andforth with the cruise ship principals.
But what I am interested in is how we arrived
at those numbers to make sure that they are appr opriate. Could they have been more, or could they have
been less? And I say that because Bermuda is a
unique destination. There are not many jurisdictions, certainly in our nearest competition like the Caribbean, noting, Mr. Chairman, you can cruise all over the world. But at a lot of the destinations in the Caribbean,
the cruise ship companies have to anchor off [shore]
and [the passengers be] ferried in. They do have pr ivate islands where the y do their own thing. And so, I
think Bermuda has, in the last number of years, of-fered value for money because our cruise ships,
99 per cent of them come right to a dock, whether it is
in St. George’s, whether it is in Hamilton, or whether it
is up in the West End of the Island. They come right to
a dock. So, how did the Minister and colleagues arrive
at these numbers to ensure that these are the right
numbers for the increase in taxes?
Another question to the Honourable Minister,
and I know he has got hi s technical team in the room
today, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the technical team for the support that they provide and
will continue to provide. I heard very little in the brief
about hotel investment. And my honourable colleague
talked about her liking to see Bermudians involved in
the hotel industry. And I think all of us in this House of
Assembly share that. And as we travel to other juri sdictions, we are very impressed by having locals i nvolved in their industry. And we need to do a better job in Bermuda.
But at the same time, I believe, Mr. Chairman,
we need to have more hotel investment in Bermuda. Because airlines are very competitive. The Honour able Minister in his brief talked about an airline incen-tive, I think, for $60,000 to JetBlue, and [this was] the
third year for that. If we do not keep those passenger
numbers high throughout the season and certainly in
the off season, we stand the risk of losing seat capac ity coming to Bermuda. I think we need to continue to
build the seat capacity in the shoulder months and in
the summer months. And that will be done with more
hotel investment. So, I would like to ask the Honourable Mini ster, through the Ministry of Tourism, and I am sure it works in conjunction with other ministries, wh at is the
focus for the Government this year in hotel inves tment? Are there new irons in the fire? How are we making out with the current hotel investment? What is
an update on Morgan’s Point? Because, clearly, I
think there is opportunity. Bermuda is stil l the best
place in the world. And I think there is plenty of opportunity for that. So, I ask the Honourable Minister to
answer those questions. And I look forward to hearing the answers. And I look forward to opportunities to say
a few more words in this debate.

Thank you.
Would any other Member care to speak? We
are dealing with Head 48, Tourism. It is a four -hour
debate.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry, Mr. Chairman. I just
have a question because I know that my colleague
was trying to get to something. And I just want to see if this is the way for us to get to it.
On [page] B -197, [cost centre] 58010, in terms
of employee numbers, full -time equivalent, for the estimates for 2019/20 there is an indication that there is
one person who is s upposed to be in the Transport ation Planning Team. And I guess that is what people
will be interested in from the perspective of, there is
someone there; and therefore, what people would be
wondering about is what that person did. Because
when you look at performance measures on [page] B -
198, there is no reference to that planning team and
there is no reference to performance measures. And I
think you will hear me hitting home all the time when
we look at these things. Monies, performance
measures so that t he public can see what they are
doing and how well it is spent.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. Thank you, Honourable Member from constituency 19, I do believe.
Would any other Member care to speak to
Head 48, Tourism and Transport?
No other Member?
Minister.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry, Mr. Chairman. I just
have a question because I know that my colleague
was trying to get to something. And I just want to see
if this is the way for us to get to it.
On [page] B -197, [cost centre] 58010, in terms
of employee numbers, full -time equivalent, for the estimates for 2019/20 there is an indication that there is one person who is supposed to be in the Transport ation Planning Team. And I guess that is what people will be interested in from t he perspective of, there is
someone there; and therefore, what people would be
wondering about is what that person did. Because


Bermuda House of Assembly when you look at performance measures on [page] B -
198, there is no reference to that planning team and
there is no reference to performance measures. And I
think you will hear me hitting home all the time when we look at these things. Monies, performance measures so that the public can see what they are
doing and how well it is spent.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Okay. Thank you, Honourable Member from constituency 19, I do believe.
Would any other Member care to speak to
Head 48, Tourism and Transport?
No other Member?
Minister.
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Okay, Mr. Chairman. I will
try to answer a few of the questio ns that have been
put so far.
For MP Scott, she asked about a billfish. That
is a pretty easy one for me, as my brothers are fis hermen.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Yes. The jury is out on
that one whether or not he is a golfer.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Well, he does occasiona lly. He does take my picture occasionally. But I think I
take his a bit more than he takes mine. But that being said, a long story is that it is
one of the thin fishes that bas ically spend most of their
time on top of the water, and they have a long, pointed snout, as the marlin, your sailfishes and fishes of
that nature. So, I thought I would just point that out.

Thank you.

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: I am s ure that my brother
is not listening. But if he were, I am sure he would a ppreciate that.
A couple of questions were asked. Let us see.
Let us see what I have here. Let us go through my
notes. Visitor Services grant, there was a question
about those grant s. They are actually programmes, so
they are not really grants. The other question was —let
me look through my notes. I think with regard to how much money —you asked about the Norwegian E scape, I think. I think that those things are getting really
down to d etails. I can get those for you. I will give you
an undertaking that I will get that for you in due
course.
The air capacity projections, down 4 per cent.
I think that the Shadow Minister will know that the American Airlines flight, they withdrew one of t heir
flights, one of their daily flights. So, the capacity we are projecting will be down. So, that is the answer to
that question. And I will get that other information to
you with regard to the individual cruise line questions
that were asked.
Incoming fees for $8.1 million will go to the
BTA. The integrated marketing partnerships, they are still occurring in 2019, with several partners, which
include digital marketing prints events and email marketing, as well. You had asked about the Beach
Economy. We all know that there was a lot of fanfare
over Shelly Bay Beach. We will look at continuing to
do something on our beaches with consultation with
the President of the Bible Belt, Mr. Burgess, the MP,
the Honourable Member and his colleagues. So, we
will do that as we move forward. It is certainly som ething that I cherish.
I think we all remember when Mr. Thomas
wanted to open up a concession at Long Bay Beach
in Warwick. I mean, I thought we were well on our
way. But, of course, that was shot down by the en vironmentalists and a few other groups.
I think that that is an untapped market because, as many of us will know, Horseshoe Beach is
just super crowded during the season. And if we could
start filtering . . . and I think the plan for us to start to
try an d filter our tourists around the Island on some of
our other beaches, we are going to put some emphasis on that, going forward. But I think something like Long Bay Beach would certainly help with the crowds
that we currently experience at Elbow Beach.
The rotation programme within the BTA, yes,
it is ongoing. You had asked about the Bermuda Hospitality Institute [BHI] and the $400,000. You may not
know this, but what we have done is brought that back
under the Tourism Authority. And I think Karla Lacey
is the original —she was there from when we started
the Hospitality Institute, way back when. So, she is very familiar with it. She was the person who headed
it back then. She is going to work with the current board that were over at the BHI. And so, we will have
some more news about that in the future. But that is
where that is.

Certified waiter.

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Yes.
I am just looking. Give me a second, if you do
not mind, Mr. Chairman, just to look through some of
my notes.
746 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Pause]

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: The Honourable Member
Dunkley asked about the triathlon and how that money would be spent. It will be through organising the continued marketing and anything that has anything to
do with the triathlon. I mean I can–– and certai nly, as
their parliamentary questions will be one if he wanted
to delve down into the weeds. But I do not mind supplying that information if the Honourable Member so
wishes to go down that deep. But I think that the Hon-ourable Member is quite aware that th e World Triat hlon series is not a small event. It is a huge event,
which will require a lot of organisational skills and pr ofessionalism to make sure that it comes off correctly.
Honourable Member Dunkley also asked
about, you know, is there any news on new hotel development? Not really. You know, we are talking to
some people about possible development on the I sland. One thing we do not want to do is make the mi stake of, you know, jumping in a backhoe and having a
big press conference, and then have it come to
naught. We have seen that in the last couple of years.
So, we want to try to avoid that if we can. It is good
press. It might get some people interested in the I sland. But, of course, if it does not come to fruition,
then it just leaves a little bit of an empty space.
The Honourable Member Dunkley also asked
about Morgan’s Point. He might be well aware that Morgan’s Point are actually in default of their —

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Yes. During his tenure as
the Premier. So, he would certainly know that this loan
was in default. And work is being undertaken at the moment to see if we can do something about that.
And as we work through that, I can assure you that
this Government will inform the people of Bermuda
where things stand with regard to that development,
unlike the former Government. You would have
thought that if the loan was in default, they would have
let the people of the country know. We had to find that out after we won the election, which was a little bit
sad, to be honest.
I think that is about it for now, Mr. Chairman.

Would any other Member care to
speak?
Honourable Member from constituency 10,
you have the floor.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the answers by the
Minister. Just to remind the Honourable Minister that I
asked questions about the cruise ship taxes that were
there and the justification for them in comparison to
other jurisdictions. And that was not touched.
In regard to the triathlon, I would have thought
that, during the Budget Debate, the Minister would
easily be able to justify the $2 million that had been
spent, rather than coming back at a later date.
In regard to hotel investment and Morgan’s
Point, I think this House knows that there is a big di fference between Morgan’s Point and many other places, in that it was government land that is annexed
out (my words) on a long- term lease. So, we do have
some security there. So, I ask the Honourable Mini ster, what is the progress on construction? Are they still undergoing construction at the place, and have they
made any progress to get some more money in to seed the development, going forward?
I was surprised to hear that an American Ai rline flight has pulled back. And I ask the Honourable
Minister, what are we doing to try to increase capac ity? Because decreas ing capacity is a very worrying
sign, going forward.
Mr. Chairman, $22.5 million has been given to
the BTA. I ask the Honourable Minister, are there performance parameters around that? Because, in addition to the $22.5 million, there is also a significant amount of money that is going to them in direct tax ation. So, that is one question. The second question is,
the Honourable Minister, when he sat on this side of
the House, was very vocal about the compensation for
members of the BTA. And has the Honourab le Mini ster looked into the compensation? And I assume, now
that we have not heard anything about that, he believes that the compensation levels that currently exist are fitting and appropriate.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to
more answers, and I will have some more questions.

Would any other Member care of
speak?
I recognise the Opposition Leader.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
I just want to follow up on my colleague, Michael Dunkley, the Honourable Member, when he was
speaking to the grant. I noticed in the Budget Stat ement this year that it said that there is a reduction in


Bermuda House of Assembly Government’s grant from $26 million to $22.5 million.
If you look on page C -18, you will see that it says
6835, Tourism Authority Grant, $25 million. So, I am
not sure which one is correct. Is the Statement correct
in saying $26 million? Or is the Budget Book?

On page C -18, it says $22.5 [million].
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Sorry. I am looking at the
actual 2017/18. I f you look at the Statement it says it
is going from $26 million. So, the actual was . . . in the
Budget Book, it says $25 million. I am wondering
which one is correct. Is it the $25 million or is it the —

And just for clarification, Members,
the Budget Statement is just that, a statement. The
Budget Book is what we are debating. And if there
was something that needed to be corrected, which
has been done over many years, it would come in an erratum, which would be inserted into the Budget
Book. I do not see one as it relates to this yet. But . . .
so today we are debating Head 48 on [page] C -18,
under cost code 6835. For 2017/18, it says $25 mi llion. And in the Minister’s brief, he said that ther e was
a decrease as it related to tourism. And he explained why. And it is $22.5 million. So, we are debating the
Budget Book. And if you want to put out a question, I
want to remind you that we are debating what is in this
book right now.

Hon. L. Craig C annonier: I did put out the question
already. The Chairman: Yes. Yes.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I was just trying to figure
out which one is correct.

Okay. Thank you, Honourable Member.
Any other Member care to speak to Head 48,
Tourism and Transport? Honourable Member, constituency 19.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to do something which, and I am conscious of the fact that I am having to look at the Budget Book and we have to make sure that there are lines
that we are looking at. But I have to continue with my
consistency.
With respect to the Grants and Contributions,
there is an indication on page C -18 that, for 2019/20,
we have $2,070,000 that is going to be given for the
World Triathlon series. Also, there are going to be
$205,000 given to external bodies.

Yes.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: What I want to find out is,
why are there no performance measures for these
types of grants? Surely, when money is given out,
there is an indication as to what value you think that
you are going to get, whether it be the number of tour-ists, if you think they are going to come on the Island,
or whether you think about the amount of revenue
[coming in]. Because, later on when the Statement
comes out, there is going to be some reference as to
whether it failed or did not fail, to say, like the Amer ica’s Cup. You know, when we talked about it, did we get enough people here? Was it value for money? I
am just suggesting that performance measures need
to be in these books as we go forward to make the
public understand why this money was spent, so they
could see for themselves whether there was value for
money and whether the success of the programme was achieved. Thank you, Mr. [Chairman].

748 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you, Honourable Member.
The Chairman opens the floor [to debate] .
Shadow Minister, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just on page B -196, and I believe this probably will go under advertising and promotion. I know that the majority of the tourism investment dollars
were spent in the markets for New York and Boston.
But it was indicated that other jurisdictions will be targeted as considering Bermuda as a destination. And one of those markets was Asia. And I am just wondering if any of those adverti sing and promotion dollars
are being used to target other jurisdictions outside of
Boston and New York.

Any other Member care to address
Head 48?
Minister.
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
To the Honourable O pposition Leader’s question. And I can see why he is getting a little confused. Because what happened is, year before last, we had
Tourism and Economic Development together, which
was $26 [million]. And so, when we separated, and Economic Development went away from the Ministry,
that is where you get the $25.5 [sic] million. And that
is why the $26 million is referred to in the budget. So, I think that is where the . . . it confused me, too.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: No, no, the number is actually right. Yes, that number . . . I looked on page 41,
too. That number is actually . . . it was $26 [million].
But when they had the breakup, or the separation,
between Economic Development and Tourism, that is
where that came in.

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes.
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Yes. Yes. That is correct.
American Airlines, the loss of flight. Well, the
Honourable Member, I think it was Honourable Mem-ber Dunkley who asked the question. The Honourable
Member probably does not realise this, but let us point
it out to him. We now have the airport that is not run, not owned, not operated by us anymore. It is operated
by Skyport. And I am sure the Honourable Member, when he was Premier, signed off on that agreement.
Surely, he recognises and remembers that Skyport,
under the agreement, are responsible for getting airlift
and approving marketing incentives. If they do not support marketing incentives to the country, quite
frankly, we may lose not only American, but we may
lose a few more. [Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: So, you know, when the
Honourable Member mentions that, I think he needs
to reflect back on the agreement that he signed when he signed off our airport for the next 30 years. And I
can tell you we are having challenges right now with
the current airlines. And let us hope that we do not
lose many more because of that agreement.
The Honourable Member, MP Atherden,
asked about the one employee. That one employee is
one person. And I think she may know who it is. It is
Ms. Stacy Adams . And she has responsibility for
transportation, which we can talk about more on Fr iday, but with regard to TCD [Transport Control D epartment], Marine & Ports, and the Department of Transportation, as we ll as our cruise lines.
The Honourable Member Dunkley also wanted some more explanation with regard to the triathlon.
Again, that triathlon was engaged whilst the OBA
were the Government. And just to give a further
breakdown, I mean, I can give you breakdowns out of the ying- yang, but let us give a few more. The gran dstands, the coursework, the barriers, the event exec ution, TV coverage, management, licensing, market-ing—I mean, you know, I can give you that number. I
mean, you know, certainly you know, MP. So, if you
want any more than that in any specific details, I would suggest that you ask a parliamentary question
to get, if you wish, more specifics.
And certainly, with regard to MP Dunkley’s
comment with regard to the $22.5 million, I think he
was ask ing, and he can correct me if I am wrong, but I
think he was asking for a further breakdown of the $22.5 million. Well, certainly they were Government
not long ago when it was $25 million. You know, if
anything at all, what we have done is reduce that. So,
certainly he must be aware of how some of that money is spent, if not all of it.
Performance measures —it is the same pr ocess that the OBA had, when you asked for the performance measures of some of the BTA and their
staff. Those annual objectives are set by the board,
and the board monitors. And they act accordingly, de-pending on how the employees perform throughout the year.

Thank you, Minister.
Would any other Member care to speak?
Honourable Member from constituency 10,
you have the fl oor.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am incredulous. I stand here this morning
and I hear the Minister endeavour to give answers
about budgets that are allocated in this House, for a
Budget Debate, and is somewhat reticent about giving
numbers. And his go- to phrase all the time was, They
should know. They were the Government before. But,


Bermuda House of Assembly wait a second, Mr. Chairman. Let me be very clear.
They are not the OBA. They were not elected to be
the OBA. And they said that they would do things di fferently than the OBA, Mr. Chairman. So, to come here in the Budget Debate, Mr. Chairman, and to say—

Well, I am not speaking . . . Honour able Member, have a seat. I am trying to stick and keep
this Budget Debate on track on numbers and not let it
drift into a general debate and wide- ranging, whilst
trying . . . and I will be honest with you. I am trying my
best to encourage debate on a subject that is very near and dear to my heart. Okay? Very near and dear to my heart. But I am not going to allow it to become
what it need not to be.
And since you want to go to drift, let me just
drift and say this. Tourism deserves this debate to be
drilling down. People should be jumping to their feet
from the Opposition to drill down on these item numbers. So, please, please do not go there, because we
may have to go to Educati on sooner rather than later.
Continue on, Honourable Member. You have
the floor.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, Tourism
does, like any head, deserve to be drilled down.

Right. Continue.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And I think it is poor performance for the Minister to say, just generally, just
like the OBA should have done it, you know, for
grandstands, for concessions, and things like that. I want to know how the spending has changed, where
the spending is going to, what reliability do we have to
get value for money? I support the triathlon. We support the triathlon. It is a good thing. It does great for
Bermuda, especially when our champion won it here last year.

What is the question?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Is the $2 million being
spent in exactly the same way it was spent under the
OBA?
Now, Mr. Chairman, moving on. I am still looking for some background information on the cruise
ships. How we came to that tax level. How we decided
that those increases were appropriate. How we deci ded that to repeal a tax was appropriate, Mr. Chairman,
in comparison with some of our keen competition just
a few hundred miles, 1,000 miles, to our south.
Very concerned to learn that the Minister believes that there might be a potential for more flight
shrinkage. Because I remember in t his Honourable
House, the Honourable Minister did give a Statement
that he was, at this point (and these are my words, not
the Minister’s), disappointed with the working relationship at the present time between all the partners i nvolved in attracting new f lights to Bermuda. And that
was the Airport Authority, Skyport, the Ministry and all
of that.
But, Mr. Chairman, in all due respect, here is
the question. Whilst Skyport might have some jurisdi ction in attracting flights, the Government still has a
great deal of responsibility. And in my humble opinion,
Mr. Chairman, if the Government wants to use the
excuse that it is somebody else’s problem, not ours,
that is a cop out. The Government needs to be buil ding relationships.

Yes. The Honourable Member is misleading the House. And as the Chairman of
the Airport Authority, w ho overseas Skyport and over750 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly seas the project agreement, under the project agreement it is Skyport’s responsibility to attract and incentivise airlift into the country. If Skyport does not do that
and does not uphold their responsibility, then we run
the ri sk of airlines leaving.
So, therefore, if the Government has to bud get money or spend money to incentivise airlines, that
means Skyport is not doing, not fulfilling their responsibility. And that project agreement was signed under
the administration in which the Member who just took
his seat was Premier. So, that is what he should know, and that is why I am surprised that he is actua lly asking these questions. Because it was his admi nistration, it was his party, and it was basically his F inance Minister who allowed this deal to go through in the first place.

Thank you for that, Honourable
Member.
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member from constituency 10.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Honourable Member could speak any
time during the debate and bring up that point of order
at the time. But I go back to what I was saying. If the
Government wants to blame Skyport for being def icient at this point in time in that, it is a cop out. B ecause you cannot sit by and let something— Mr.
Chairman, you cannot sit by and let —

Honourable Member, we are not g oing to have a back -and-forth general debate. I will say
this. The Honourable Member gave a point of order
because he was in a position of knowing to be able t o
give you probably the most informed answer to the
question. If you could speak to the line item, it will be
appreciated.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, I am speaking to the same line item that the Minister referred to, the $60,000 to JetBlue and the fact that the American
Airlines have withdrawn a flight. We have to work t ogether on this, Mr. Chairman. And it is very concer ning for me to, in my words again, to see that the Go vernment might be sitting back to let Skyport fail. We
cannot have that happen. And so, I ask the question
to the Honourable Minister.

The Honourable Member is
misleading the House yet again. The Government has put up money when they should not have had to in
order to make sure that the country does not fail. And
that means that we have to support Skyport. We are
in negotiations. We are working very closely with
Skyport, as closely as we possibly can, with that pr oject agreement, which does not allow any variations.
So, therefore, the money that the Government
has spent, we should not have had to spend in the first place. And that is how we are supporting Skyport.
That is how we are ensuring that they do not fail, be-cause their failure is the country’s failure. And this Government will not allow the country to fail. So, it is
incorrect for that Member to say that we are sitting
back and not doing anything and allowing Skyport to
fail.

Okay.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Now we get an answer.
So, I ask a question to the Honourable Member who just spoke and the Minist er, How much mo ney has Government put up? And what the Honourable
Member, MP Scott, referred to, how much money is
put up? And he can come back and speak rather than
[raise] a point of order, Mr. Chairman, because the
comments from the Minister were very c oncerning.
And airlift is very critical to Bermuda.

Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And so, if the working rel ationship is not as strong as it should be, it is under the
Government’s leadership to make that relationship
strong. We believe in the deal that was signed. We
believe that it is a very proactive deal going forward.
We do not need to get into debating it today. The
questions come because the Honourable Minister ––
look, he expressed a very real concern. And I wrote it
down. Let us hope we do not lose many more because of the agreement. And we need to be proactive
to make sure that the Minister’s concerns do not become a reality.
So, the question is, How much money has
been put up to date? And how does the Minister be-lieve that we can get to a better position where he has
more confidence in it?

B ermuda House of Assembly So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to some answers there. But before I wait for the answers on that
and the cruise ships, as well, returning to the BTA, I ask the Honourable Minister, as my honourable co lleague from constituency 19 did as well, what perfor-mance measures and standards are put in place for the BTA? And is the Minister comfortable with the r emuneration for the senior executive in the BTA, bear-ing in mind that when he sat in another position, he was quite vehement in his comments about them?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Any other Member care to speak before we go to the Minister?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Getting back to the question that I asked with
respect to page B -197, the Transportation Planning
Team, having looked back into transport, I did not see
any reference to performance measures for that team.
So, I have to come back to where the head is right now, which is the Transportation Planning Tea m.
There is one individual. And what I want to find out is, what is that individual’s role, and what type of things
does the individual do? Because my understanding is
that there is some element of the planning for tourism. And if that is the case, then why are we not able to even know [if] the team has come up with a plan, or is there something with respect to what is happening? Because the head is here.
And then, going back to the question that we
were just asking with respect to the World Triathlon, as well as the grants to the external bodies, I apol ogise if I did not hear it. But I did not remember hearing where the $205,000 was spent. Because the bottom line is, I am assuming, when grants get given to these
people, there is something that we hope to get from
them and some way that we will measure whether they have delivered on the programme. So, back to my question, which is, if the Transportation Planning Team has been doing something, what is it? Has it
delivered on the plan? How soon are we going to hear
about it? And how do we determine that we have success?

Right.
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member from constituency 6.
Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, let me just say a little about the
cruise ship fees. As you are aware, I am the Chairman
of the Efficiency Committee. And this is one of the
things that we did look at. Let me just say where it was and where we were able to encourage the BTA and the Transportation Ministry to go forward. You will recall, at least other Members will recall, that a cha nnel was dug by, at that time, Royal Caribbean [Crui s-es Ltd. RCL]. And they took up a loan, or it was a cost
to them. And the government of the day, that was the
OBA Government, decided to put an agreement in
place that locked in the passenger tax and the cabin tax for a period of time. So, the Government of the day could not raise any additional revenue on the side.
So, what we did, we looked at it and said,
Well, this doesn’t make sense. Because not only was
RCL locked in, as far as its increase in passenger tax; NCL [Norwegian Cruise Line], which was another
large cruise line, also said, Well, we’re not going to be
increasing our fees. You’re not going to increase our fees unless RCL increases theirs. So, that was RCL,
NCL and every other little, small ship [line] after that.
So, the first question I asked was, how much
was outstanding? And I think at that time it was about
$6 million. I said, well, that does not make sense. Why don’t we take up the loan, that is, BTA take the loan
on? And they have taken it on, which allowed the
Government to increase their passenger tax. It made just common sense. So, you have got $6 million, their share. We raised an additional $24 [million] to $32 [million], so automatically we are collecting more than
we were, and allowed the BTA to get a portion of the
passenger tax, which they will collect themselves. I think also part of the . . . because there was a passenger tax, and there was also a cabin tax.
So, t he Government of t he day, thro ugh good
management, w as abl e to get add itional m oney that
the former G overnment was not ab le to even t hink
about. A nd so, t hat i s where the additional r evenue
came from. A nd Mr. D allas and his team went do wn to
Florid a and negotiat ed a good pric e that w e have
been ab le to get, as f ar as r oom r ates—passenger
tax, r ather, what I w as goi ng to say. I t was a little back
and forth. B ut at t he end of t he day, e very ot her c ruise
ship came on board, an d RCL came on boar d with us.
So, that is where we are right now.

Mr. Chairman, on page B- 196,
under the Revenue Summary, in last year’s budget,
2017, there was a line item for vacation rentals. And
there is not one here for 2018. Has that moved
somewhere else? And then, I have another question. Out of the total budget allocation to the BTA, in 2017, there were $3.1 million used for product and exper ience development. And that was for grants to entr e752 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly preneurs and other experience developers, and on
Island events promotions and activation costs. What
amount is going to be allocated this year, if any, for
those things?

Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
A couple of things, Mr. Chairman. The triat hlon. Honourable Member Dunkley asked what are we
doing differently . Are things going to be less? Are they
going to be the same? They are actually going to be
less this year. And I have to declare my interest. I
have . . . Island Construction has provided some services for the triathlon. Many of those free of charge.
And some other things that the triathlon are doing
which will be . . . obviously, there will be cost savings
involved. The preparatory work, the equipment is b eing re- used. They will not have to pay duty on things
that they paid duty on in the first go- round. So, there
will be savings. So, with regard to the triathlon, that is
where we are on that.
How a re we going to measure performance?
The impact of the event, PwC [PricewaterhouseCoopers] actually did a report and showed that there was
152 per cent return on investment. There was a $4.4
million impact on our GDP [gross domestic product],
not counting l egacy impacts. There were almost $18
million in media exposure. So, you know, the impact report will be repeated annually. So, that will be for all
of us to see.
With regard to advertising dollars, the focus is
going to be on. . . I think one of the Members opposite
asked about, you know, what are we doing in terms of
advertising? We are going to be focusing on cities like
New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and T oronto. In the National Tourism Plan, you know that
some of the nurturing cities are going to be Baltimore,
Hartford, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and even as far as
San Francisco.
Honourable Member Dunkley said we have to
work together with Skyport. Let me inform that Ho nourable Member and the people of this country that I have had many meetings with Skyport to date in my
short time—many meetings with the Bermuda Airport
Authority, their team. We have been engaged. My team at the Ministry, we have engaged the Bermuda
Tourism Authority, Kevin Dallas in particular. We have
spent many hours meeting with Skyport and looking at
ways in which we can not only secure what we have,
but increase airlift to the country. So, let us not be
fooled. There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes.
You know, I cannot help but wonder when I
get up and hear a former Premier of the country, not
that long ago. . . I can understand if it was maybe a
decade or two ago, maybe he has lost his memory.
But for him to get up and, you know, make comments
about incentives, about losing airlines, What are we doing? Are we working together? You will know, Mr.
Chairman, that this country, whether it was under the
OBA or the PLP, has given millions of dollars, millions
of dollars for airline incentives for this country —
millions. The challenge is that the OBA decided to
give the airport away. That is the challenge.
You have Skyport, whom we are trying to
work with. And more details will come out in the f uture, trust me. The people of this country are going to know what is going on. It might be a little early just
yet. But we are trying. And when you get this Go vernment or the OBA Government that has given mi llions of dollars in marketing incentives in the past, and
you have got a partner saying, Okay. I’ll give you
$100,000; you work the rest out from there, Mr.
Chairman. That is the space we are in.
Now, you want to talk about that airport
agreement? You ought to see some of the other
things. It is atrocious what is in that agreement, Mr.
Chairman. It is an affront to the Bermudian people, the
things we are uncovering in that agreement. And here
we have an OBA Government that said, We are the
business leaders of Bermuda! We are the smart peo-ple! I tell you what. A lot of that is going to be revealed
in the future, too.
But we are getting through it. And we will get
through it. And that information is going to come to
this House. And the people of the country are going to know exactly what is in that agreement. Every time we
turn around, Mr. Chairman, there are millions —not
hundreds —millions of dollars, millions that the people
of this country are going to be saddled with for many
years to come.
The Honourable Member Dunkley asked
about the remuneration for the BTA staff and said that
when I was in Opposition, I chastised those wages.
And do I think they are justified? W ell, you remember,
because the Honourable Member who made that
comment does not remember. When I chastised the wages that some of the executives of the BTA were
getting, it was at a time when we produced numbers
that were 15. . . that were the lowest number of vis itors we had had in this country in, what, 48 years I
think it was. And we were paying out. . .
Look. Let me tell you something. And I said. . .
Go back to Hansard! I said, Listen. Someone making
$400,000 or $500,000 a year doesn’t faze me, you
know. In my world, there are a lot of people who make
that money. That is fine. But you’ve got to perform.
That was my problem. You had to perform, Mr.
Chairman! And I will tell the Honourable Member, any
of the Honourable Members opposite, look, $400,000,
$500,000 [or] $1 million a year does not scare me,
you know. But I will tell you what. You had better perform. You don’t perform, then you make changes. If
you are running a company, whether it be in Bermuda
or anywhere else in the world, if you do not perf orm,
you might find yourselves out of a job with that company.


Bermuda House of Assembly Now, Mr. Chairman, we talked about the
cruise tax, and I thank the Honourable Member
Furbert for giving his explanation. I thought it was a
very good one. But let me tell you something else I
have found since I have been there. Former Finance Minister Bob Richards struck a deal with cruise lines.
We are going to dredge the harbour so we can get the larger ships in. That’s great. But you know what the
cost was, Mr. Chairman? [It was] $16 million. And we
did not want that —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: [It was] $16 million! Okay?
But this is our OBA Government, a former F inance Minister. You know what deal he strikes? Okay,
cruise lines. You know, we don’t want anything el se
on our books. You pay for it. But with those cruise
lines comes extra tax. So, what we’ll do is we’ll keep
all the extra tax, and we’ll put it towards the loan.
And there are a couple of things that really
bothered me when I got the information. One is that
we are paying over 6 per cent interest on that money,
number one. Number two, during the duration of that
so-called loan, we could not raise our taxes at all until
that loan was paid off. And let us give credit where
credit is due. I think it was Mr. Dallas and his team
who said, Listen. You know what? We are paying way too much money for this. Let’s go and get it r efinanced. And we did, for about 2.5 per cent less, or
thereabouts. And guess what we could do now, Mr.
Chairman? We are raising the taxes , which I outlined
in my brief. That is going to give the country millions of
dollars in extra money this year, Mr. Chairman.
So, if you want to talk about some of the
things, you are talking about looking under the hood.
Some of the things that we have f ound in just those
two items alone, it is millions and millions of dollars,
Mr. Chairman. I wonder what else we are going to find
in due course?
Now, the Honourable Member Jeanne
Atherden wanted to get more information. I mean, I do not know if she was li stening, but I will repeat it. That
one employee whom she asked about with regard to
the Transportation Planning, I called her name. And I
must say it is not often that I walk out of that office late at night and she is not still working, number one. So,
she certainly deserves all the praise, as well as ev erybody else in the Ministry, I have found, too, by the
way. And, you know, we cannot praise the people who
work in the Ministry enough.
But let me just say again, she is involved with
the development of the cruise ship strategy, which is
number one. She has been very good at that. She is
involved with all transport, whether it be DPT, TCD,
Marine & Ports, the ship agencies, parts, excursion companies. She gets involved with all of that. And I
think you asked about the performance measures, MP
Atherden. That is currently being reviewed at this time, as most departments do undergo reviews. And
you asked, I think you asked when we might hear
something. You will hear something on that very soon,
by the way.

[Pause]

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: There was a question
about a line item for vacation rentals. I think it was
you, MP Scott. That is under the remit of the Regul atory and the Policy Section, which works in conjunction with the rent commissioner, [cost centre] 58020. It
is in the Budget Book there. And I think that is it for
now, Mr. Chairman.

I just want to speak to page
B-196, Grants and Contributions, whi ch is [page] C -18
[of the Budget Book]. And also speaking to the Member from constituency 10, to give just a bit of bac kground on where we are. The Bermuda Airport A uthority, the Bermuda Tourism Authority and Skyport
are all working together to create a po licy which
speaks to airline incentives. Now, the reason that this
has come up is that, under the past administration, they were giving money to airlines without . . . and as
the Honourable Member Atherden has asked about
performance matrices, how do you k now that you are
getting value for money? How do you know that it is
being spent in the right ways or most effectively or efficiently?
Under the former administration, the former
administration which the former Premier Dunkley was
the head of, they were just spending money and gi ving millions and millions of dollars to stakeholders in the industry without having any way of knowing
whether it was efficient or effective. So, now what we are doing is we are actually creating a policy which
outlines the way and we have the means —

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman ]

I am. And I am also speaking on [page] C -18 of the Budget Book.
So, therefore, we are stopping the gover nment from spending unnecessarily when it comes to
the Grants and C ontributions on that one.
Now, also what happens is that, regardless of
whether you believe that the airport or the project agreement was a good deal or a bad deal, the Airport
Authority has been able to get an optimisation agre ement worth $15 million mor e, or $15 million in added
value to the country. So, that way, this is how we are
helping to save the government money. We are wor king with the other stakeholders, which is the BTA and Skyport. So, therefore, that goes also under the pr oject agreement, under the optimisation. That is where
Skyport is supposed to put an additional couple of million dollars towards airline incentives. So, ther efore, this is why the Government should not be having to budget for airline incentives under Grants and Contributions , page B -196.
So, hopefully, that helps provide some bac kground, some clarity to what the Member was asking.

C-18?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: C-18, with respect to the
World Triathlon series, I am pleased that the Minister told us what happened last year from PwC. What I am
trying to find out now is that, the grant has been given.
What type of increased air arrivals are we hoping will
come for the triathlon? How much extra spending do
we hope will be a spin- off? And also, what type of potential might there be with respect to jobs for Berm udians?

The Chair recognises the Honourable
Minister. Mr. De Silva, you have the floor.
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Well, that is an interesting
question, because one of the things that I did research
when I took over the Ministry was that I looked at
some of the past press statements, Mr. Chairman.
And to answer the Honourable Member’s question, our former Minister Fahy, I remember very clearly that
he stated in one of his press conferences that it is the
hope that Bermuda experiences in the region of
around 1,200 visitors to the Island for the triathlon during its tenure. I think the number came up a little short.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Yes, yearly, yes, 1,200
annually. Yes, yes.
I think the number came up a little bit short the
first year. So, let us hope that with all of the marketing
and all of the efforts that are being put into it that we
do see a significant increase in those numbers this
year. Which, to answer your question, we are estimating.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just one question that I think the Minister
missed, and it would be from page B -195, under [cost
centre] 58000, Administration. Out of the total budget
last year, $3.1 million was granted for the product and
experience development. What amount is being all ocated for that this year? Will it be the same amount, or
will it be increased or decreased?

Minister.
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: There was no mention of
the Event Authority in my brief at all. So, you know,
that is just a non- issue for me.


Bermuda House of Assembly The answer to the product development (I
believe you asked, MP Scott) is yes. That is going to
be $1.3 million, which is additional funding that is
moved under Sports Tourism.

It would come under Administr ation, on B -195. So, the question I had asked was, u nder the total funds allocated to the BTA, $3.1 [million]
of that was allocated for the product [ and experience
development ]. Now it is $1.2 million, so I just want to
know why it has gone from $3.1 million to $1.2 million .

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Again, this is under Grants and Contributions
on B -196. So, does that mean that there is not an appetite, that we are not going to have an Event Author ity?
The Ch airman: Minister.

Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: To have an Event Author ity in itself, not at this present time, no. Might we have
a separate division that concentrates on larger
events? Yes.
With regard to the question again, MP Scott,
just to clarify, it w as $3.1 million last year. So, we are
going to keep the $1.3 million. But the $1.8 million is going to be moved to concentrate on sports events
and things like that.

Any further speakers?
There appear to be none.
Minister, you have the fl oor. Do you want to
wrap up?
Hon. Zane. J. S. De Silva: Yes, Mr. [Chairman].
Mr. [Chairman], before I move that we end the
debate, I would just like to thank Members for their
contributions. And while we are here, I would like to
thank all of the staff for the work that they have done and continue to do. I think that I have been ar ound the
block a little while now, Mr. [Chairman], and I have had the good fortune to serve in several ministries in my time. And the myth about all of our government
workers you heard in the general debate, and you
hear talk in and around the Island about our civil ser vants. I will tell you what. And you have been there, Mr. Chairman. I do not think we praise our civil servants enough. Even in this House, I watch how our civil
servants work their backsides off. And I do not think
we give them enough praise. And I would just like to
take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard
work and what they do.
You know, contrary to popular belief, a lot of
our civil servants do take their jobs very, very serious-ly. They take it very seriously. And I have seen passion. I have seen passion in some of our civil servants
that I would like to see in the private sector, to be
honest. It is just astounding to me the criticism that is
put in and about our civil servants. And I find time and time and time again that s o many people at different
levels go beyond and above.
So, with that, Mr. Chairman —

We will adjourn until two o’clock. And
we will come back, and we will do Education, Heads
16, 17, 18, 19 and 41.
We now adjourn for lunch.

Proceedings suspended at 12:29 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2:06 pm

[Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan, Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2019/20

[Continuation thereof]
756 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Good afternoon, Members.
We are in the Committee of Supply to consi der Heads 16, 17, 18 and 41, which come under the
Ministry of Education. And the Honourable Minister,
Diallo Rabain, from constituency 13, has the floor.
Minister, continue.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I move that the following: Head
16, Ministry of Education Headquarters; Head 17, D epartment of Education; Head 18, Libraries and A rchives; Head 19, Archives; and Head 41, Bermuda
College, be now taken under consideration.

Thank you, Minister. And at 2:05 pm
you will commence. This is a four -hour debate.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, today I am
pleased to present the budget of the Ministry of Ed ucation, which comprises the Ministry of Education
Headquarters, Head 16; the Department of Education,
Head 17; the Department of Libraries and Archives,
Head 18; and the Bermuda College, Head 41.
Mr. Chairman, the 2019/20 budget for the
Ministry of Education is $136,950,000. This is found
on page B -140 of the Estimates of Revenue and E xpenditure for the year 2019/20. This represents an increase of $239,000 compared with the 2018/19 ori ginal budget. However, as a result of the transfer of the
Department of Workforc e Development to the Ministry
of Labour, Community Affairs and Sports, and the di scontinuation of the Community Education and Deve lopment Programme, the true net increase in the
budget for the Ministry is $552,000.

HEAD 16 —MINISTRY HEADQUARTERS
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I will commence the budget debate by detailing the expenditure for the Ministry of Education Headquarters.
The mission of the Ministry Headquarters,
which is found on page B -141 is: To provide strategic
leadership, supervisio n, and policy direction for the
support of a transformative public school education
system and lifelong learning for all children and adults.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Education
Headquarters has been allocated a budget of $3,579,000 for the 2019/20 fiscal year.

Programme 1601—General Administration

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Within Programme 1601 —
business unit 26000, General Administration,
$1,037,000 will support the administrative functions of the Ministry. This increase of $168,000 comprises additional salary of a ministry comptroller (who was
transferred from another Ministry) and two officers whose salaries were previously accounted for under the discontinued Community Education Development
Programme.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 26080, which
funds Grants to External Bodies has been allocated $1,116,000 an increase of $479,000. Of this total
$279,000 has been set aside to fund a merit -based
College Promise programme towards public school graduates with a GPA of 3.0 or higher for scholarships
to attend the Bermuda College. These monies will be
provided on an as -needed basis.
Mr. Chairman, $1,426,000 has been set aside
for business unit 26090 for the administration of the
Ministry’s Annual Scholarships and Awards Pr ogramme. The increase of $206,000 allows for additional awards to be granted for teacher training, exceptional students, mature students, and further ed ucation awards.
Mr. Chai rman, in 2018 approximately 389 applications were received from students requesting f inancial support. The Ministry funded a total of 14 Bermuda Government scholarships comprised of new and existing scholarships; a total of 5 non- traditional
student awards ; 6 teacher education scholarships;
and 33 further education awards. Also, in response to community feedback received, the Minister’s Awards
were further extended and awarded to include: four
Minister Achievement Scholarships; two Merit Schol-arships, three Applied Technology Scholarships, four
Exceptional Student Awards, three Technical and V ocational Awards, and six Bermuda College Book Awards.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -142, the Subjective
Analysis of the Current Account shows all line items of
expenditure lower than in the 2018/19 fiscal year estimate. The decreases are all directly related to the
discontinuance of the Community Education Deve lopment Programme as a portion of the salary and operational costs moved along with the Department of
Workforce Development to the Ministry of Labour, Community and Sports.
Mr. Chairman, the last line item of $2,411,000
has been budgeted for the distribution of External Grants and Scholarships and Awards. This is an i ncrease of $674,000. Of this total $537,000 has been
budgeted for Grants to External Bodies to assist in providing educational services and programmes to
schools. This is in line with the previous year’s spend.
Equally, the remaining monies, as mentioned earlier,
has been set aside to fund a merit -based Col lege
Promise programme for public school students to at-tend the Bermuda College. The full detail of this all ocation can be found on page C -17 of the Budget
Book.
Mr. Chairman, the number of full -time equiv alents [FTE] in the Ministry of Education Headquar ters
increased from three FTEs to seven FTEs. The add itional four FTEs reflect two posts transferred from the discontinued Community Education and Development


Bermuda House of Assembly Programme, a policy analysis, and a ministry com ptroller.
Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to the Min istry
Headquarters team under the leadership of the Permanent Secretary, our policy analyst, the ministry comptroller, the scholarships and awards programme
manager, the administrative accounts officer, and my
executive assistant. All have provided me with exce llent technical and administrative support. I am
pleased to have a team of professionals who are dil igent and committed to deliver the Ministry’s mandate
and policy initiatives.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and this concludes
my presentation of the budget for the Ministry Head-quarters.

HEAD 17 —DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I will now
present the budget for Head 17, the Department of
Education, and also speak to the Department of Edu-cation’s plans for the upcoming year.
The vision of the Department of Education as
outlined on page B -144 is: To see all students educated to lead personally and professionally, contribute locally, and compete globally.
Mr. Chairman, the mission of the Department
of Education is: To provide a ll students with an equitable access to holistic, high- quality instruction that is
culturally relevant and empowers students to reach
their full potential.
Mr. Chairman, our vision and our mission are
captured in the strategies that are being executed for
Plan 2022.
Mr. Chairman, a multi -year 2018 –2022 strat egic plan, known as Plan 2022, is steering public school education. Plan 2022 will enable the achiev ement of the department’s mission and vision for the
execution of strategies that fall under five pri ority ar eas which focus on:
1. increasing academic rigour and student engagement;
2. ensuring career and college and workforce
readiness;
3. enhancing the quality of teacher practice and system leadership;
4. improving infrastructure and instructional r esources; and
5. ensuring system success.
Mr. Chairman, we are confident that Plan
2022, a plan that was developed through the collation of over 3,000 pieces of information from participants and stakeholders in a consultative process and one
which identifies the way forwar d for public school education in Bermuda, will help to better meet the needs
of our children.
Mr. Chairman, Plan 2022, with its adaptive
and technical strategies aligned with international best practices, will transform public school education in Bermuda and ultimately lead to greater successes for
our students. As promised, Plan 2022 did not sit on a shelf, nor did it collect dust after it was shared with the
community in December 2017. Plan 2022 is a living
and working document that will steer public school education in the years to come. Therefore, costs must
be allocated to the strategies within the Plan to ensure
that we continue the momentum that we have already
gained.
Mr. Chairman, page B -140 shows a total of
$114,243,000 has been allocated to the D epartment
of Education for fiscal year 2019/20. This is in line with
the 2018/19 fiscal year. The nil increase does not,
however, tell the full story. The department has undertaken a full review of its budgeted costs and vacant
salary positions for the 201 9/20 fiscal year to achieve
greater efficiency. As a result of this exercise, roughly
$2,300,000 will be reallocated toward key strategic
deliverables identified in Plan 2022. These initiatives
are as follows:
• At the preschool level an expenditure of
$327, 000 will support the implementation of
an ASD programme, enable the introduction
of foreign languages to expand learning o pportunities, support programmes to educate
parents, and cover the cost of an Early Chil dhood Quality Assurance Officer to provide professional training and coaching for pr eschool teachers.
• At the primary level $770,000 will be spent to cover the cost of continuing the STEAM education programme, inclusive of professional
development training for teachers, updating
the social studies curr icula, and expanding the
literacy programme to focus more on st udents’ literary skills.
• A total of $473,000 will be used to continue
the implementation of a standards -based
grading education system covering the d epartment and site- based professional deve lopment training; and roughly $539,00 will be
set aside to address the urgent need to i ncrease the bandwidth for schools at the prim ary and middle school levels.
• At the senior level $129,500 will enable the
continuation and expansion of the City &
Guilds Programme in English and mathematics and support the introduction of a virtual job shadow programme to create a unique experience for students as part of the Career
Pathway Programme.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Education
staff continues to execute the st rategies supporting
Plan 2022. Currently, we are in the process of preparing an annual report to inform the community as promised on the progress made during the past year of
implementing Plan 2022.
Mr. Chairman, I move on to highlight the expenditures of each business unit that falls under Head
758 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly 17, on page B -145. However, as mentioned earlier,
the identified savings of $2.3 million that will be rei nvested into initiatives will not be reflected within the
Budget Book line item estimates as reallocations wil l
occur once the 2019/20 estimates have been approved.

Programme 1701—Central Administration

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I will begin
with the analysis of Central Administration. This i ncludes the costs of salaries for the administrative personnel and system leaders who function to lead, support, and monitor the work that takes place at the D epartment of Education and in our schools.
Mr. Chairman, the monies budgeted for the
upcoming year for business unit 27000, General A dministration, will c over the inventory purchases of educational and office supplies for the school year.
There is no change in expenditure for the fiscal year
2019/20.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27001, holds the
budget of the Office of the Commissioner and primar ily funds th e salaries of the Commissioner of Educ ation and two direct reports, the Director of Academics,
and the Director of Educational Standards and A ccountability. The administrative and operational costs
to support the Office of the Commissioner are also
include d in these costs and have been reduced marginally year on year. The Commissioner of Education
and direct reports will be responsible for overseeing,
monitoring, and reporting on the progress of work carried out in the department and the delivery plans for Plan 2022 as executed by department sections in our
schools.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27030, Human
Resources, funds the salaries of eight professional,
technical, and administrative staff in the Human R esources Section who deliver Human Resource func-tions and services to both the department and public
schools. In addition to Plan 2022, the Human R esources Section focuses their efforts on key job r esponsibilities, specifically as it relates to Priority #3—“Enhancing the Quality of Teacher Practice and Sy stem Leadership.”
Mr. Chairman, a total of $985,000 has been
allocated to this section to support priority initiatives
consistent with the previous year.
Mr. Chairman, in 2019/20, funding for bus iness unit 27031, School Improvement, remained in
line with the previous year’s budget of $686,000.
These funds will be used to provide a major source of
funding for training and professional development
arising from Plan 2022 and school improvement
plans, training which is necessary to enhance the
skills and competency of our teachers, educational staff, and school leaders. In support of Plan 2022,
Strategy 1.5.2, our new school improvement plan format has been developed which captures data to moni-tor student performance and gains over time and key
performance meas urements for the department.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27090, Educ ational Standards and Accountability, has oversight of
our 18 primary schools, 5 middle schools, 2 senior secondary schools, 1 special school, and 2 alternative
programmes. This team comprises assistant directors
who supervise school principals and programme c oordinators to ensure quality teaching and effective
leadership in our schools and programmes.
The work carried out by the assistant directors
is essential for the growth and development of school leaders and overall school improvement. In upcoming
years this team will ensure that principal evaluations
are in place and begin the work on principal certific ation, and develop and implement a succession plan strategy for future principal leadership roles.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27095, School
Attendance, funds the salaries of a school registration
and attendance coordinator and four school atten dance officers. It is the responsibility of this section to
ensure that children of compuls ory school age are in
school on a daily basis. The school registration and
attendance coordinator oversees the annual school
registration process for the enrolment of children in all
public schools. The coordinator also carries out a r eview of the registration process each year to ensure improvements in the process for the following year. The coordinator requires monthly attendance repor ting by principals, conducts audits of school attendance data to determine each school’s progress in r educing chronic absences, one of the key outcomes of
Plan 2022 and a department performance measure
for schools. In 2019/20, the budget for this unit r emains relatively the same as 2018/19 at $340,000.
Mr. Chairman, schools need to ensure that
quality teaching and learning experiences continue to take place when teachers are sick or on leave. The
funds allocated for business unit 27160, Substitutes, has been decreased by $2,416,000, but has been of fset by an equal increase in business unit 27079,
Paraprofessionals, of $2,147, 000. Several paraprofessionals were initially hired using the Substitutes
budget; however, these positions have been shifted to
business unit 27079 to accurately reflect the cost of providing paraprofessional services.
Mr. Chairman, the overall budget for the Ce ntral Administration programme is $4,455,000 for the 2019/20 fiscal year, which is considerably lower than
the previous year’s budget due primarily to the reall ocation between the Substitutes and Paraprofessionals
budgets.

Programme 1702— Studen t Services

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, let me shift
to programme 1702, Student Services. The Student
Services [Section] facilitates the provision of 13 pr oBermuda House of Assembly grammes that support the diverse and exceptional
needs of our student population.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27061, Behavioural Management, funds behavioural therapists for
preschool and primary schools, as well as one Educ ation Officer for Behavioural Management. In addition,
the fund covers our Alternative Education Programme,
which facili tates suitable alternative education env ironments for students with behaviour challenges.
As we implement Plan 2022, educational
therapists will play a critical role in creating a compr ehensive, system -wide, positive behaviour framework
based on international best practices in support of Plan 2022, Strategy 1.4.9. Further, as outlined in Plan
2022, [Strategy] 1.4.5 we have begun the research for alternative school models in preparation for transfor ming our current Alternative Education Programme. The ultima te aim of this process is to ensure that our alternative models are aligned with the most current r esearch and based on student needs.
The 2019/20 budget for this business unit will
increase by $85,000 to hire additional educational
therapists.
Mr. Chairm an, business unit 27063 includes
our school psychologists, who support administrators and address student needs in areas of behaviour,
mental health, and learning. They deliver comprehen-sive psycho- educational evaluations; provide consultations; short -term counselling; and intervention and
preventive services across the system. They are e ngaged in and are valuable resources for schools as it
relates to the Multi -Tier System of Support (or MTSS)
process, a Plan 2022 System Priority of Strategy
1.4.6. The 2019/20 budget will increase by $105,000
reflecting a reallocation of a school psychologist post
from business unit 27072.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27064, the Adaptive Physical Education programme, is a developmen-tally appropriate physical education programme [PE]
delivered by three teachers that helps students with
diverse needs get active and stay active by providing
the adaptive support necessary to integrate them into
regular physical education programmes. Physical e ducation lessons are implemented on an individual basis in small groups and within regular PE settings.
Students receive adaptive physical education ser-vices, and have individualised education plans with
goals and objectives which are in line with the phys ical education curriculum.
The business unit 27065 is the Deaf and
Hard- of-Hearing Programme which provides students
with academic instruction and they also collaborate
with classroom teachers to ensure that teaching and
learning is effective and student needs are met during
academic instruct ion. Funds budgeted for this bus iness unit are for salaries, disability specific resources
and materials, hearing aids and equipment, and consultant audiology services. Some funds will also be
used for professional development. Mr. Chairman, [business unit ] 27066 is the V ision Business Unit. Students with visual impairment have unique educational needs. In order to meet their
unique needs students must have specialised services, books, and materials in appropriate media i ncluding Braille, as well as special ised equipment and
technology to ensure equal access to the core and
specialised curricula, and to enable them to most e ffectively compete with their peers in school and, ult imately, in society.
Mr. Chairman, the business unit 27071, Office
Support, serves as the Secretariat for the Student
Services Section and funds the salaries of the Assi stant Director of Student Services, two administrative
assistants, and seven learning support teachers. The
increase of $170,000 reflects two additional funded
posts whi ch are due to the regularisation of a dupl icate position number.
The department’s Counselling Programme,
27072, is a comprehensive developmental school
counselling programme based on an international
model with four components: classroom guidance; core curriculum; individual planning; response services; and system support. More specifically, school -
based counselling programmes provide early intervention, crisis intervention and prevention, treatment and
promotion of positive social and emotional develop-ment.
This business unit funds the salaries of one
education officer and counsellors at the pr eschool/primary and middle school level. Salaries for senior school counsellors are funded from the senior school budget. During the 2019/20 school year, counsellors will continue to allocate their time delivering
social/emotional lessons focused on decision- making
and coping skills, academic educational plans, individual and group counselling, coordinating services
with community members, and supporting initiatives
listed in Plan 2022.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27074, Learning
Support, funds two education officers for special education and learning support, in addition to close to 40
learning support teachers who provide services to our
preschool, primary, and middl e schools, Dame Marj orie Bean Hope Academy, and our trauma responsive
programmes at our primary, middle, and senior Success Academies. This funding also includes asses sment materials needed to ensure appropriate diagnosis of students with special needs. This business unit
increased by $252,000, reflecting two learning support
teacher posts.
In the upcoming year, the department will
begin to focus on laying a foundation for the impl ementation of the inclusive and special education pol icy, and strengthen the framework to ensure students
with exceptionalities have their needs better ad-dressed.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27076 reflects
the funding for the salary of the Education Officer for
760 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Early Childhood Education and an operational budget
for the Early Chil dhood Section. Funds will be used to
hire an Early Childhood Quality Assurance Officer to
support preschools and to provide professional trai ning and coaching. Professional development will focus
on implementing the creative curriculum, the inquiry
model, authentic assessment, the SEE -KS Pr ogramme, and training to strengthen the MTSS process
for children on the autism spectrum.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27079 provides
for the delivery of paraprofessional services for our students who have a diverse range of learning needs.
The paraprofessionals provide instructional support,
ensure protection and safety, and provide support for
transition and life skills for children with special needs. This includes providing adequate support for students
with physical e xceptionalities, including deafness and
visual impairments. Further, during this school year and in alignment with Plan 2022, we will lay the
groundwork for developing standards for paraprofessionals who will also participate in specialised training to bet ter equip them for supporting students with exceptionalities. As previously mentioned, the increased budget in this business unit is a direct offset with the
reduction of the budget for the Substitutes pr ogramme.
Mr. Chairman, the business unit [27083], A utism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, funds salaries for
teachers and those paraprofessionals who serve st udents with autism within the ASD programmes at
three primary schools, one middle school, and one
senior school. The funding also covers operational
costs for equipment repairs, maintenance, and supplies. The 2019/20 budget of $687,000 will fund these
costs and also costs for autism training for all teachers
and paraprofessionals.
Mr. Chairman, the business unit 27084, Alternative Education, funds the operation of the Alterna-tive Education Programme and two Success Academies. Funds are also used for the Department of Education partner programmes which offer additional alternative programme choices for our students. During
this year, as outlined in Plan 2022, staff will begin to
explore alternative education school models that are
based on research and the evidenced needs of st udents.
Mr. Chairman, the Student Services Section
provides an extensive range of educational services for our students with exceptionalities. The total budget
allocation for programme 1702, for the 2019/20 fiscal
year, is $19,755,000.

Programme 1703—Finance and Corporate

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Now, Mr. Chairman, I
would like to focus on programme 1703, the Finance
and Corporate Section of the Department of Educ ation. Business unit 27002 supports the staff in the
Financial Administration Section. They include a de-partment comptroller, financial services manager, a
payments supervisor, a salaries supervisor, a salaries clerk, three accounts clerks, and a messenger. This section is responsible for providing financial advice to
senior management; cost -effective and responsive
financial services to support Plan 2022 Priority #5;
procurement and contracting services; and corporate
planning solutions for the department’s management,
employees, and schools. Under the direction of the department’s comptroller, this office coordinates the
payment of salar ies for approximately 1,130 educators
and department staff, and pays all suppliers and vendors for goods and services purchased, as well as
organises the collection of receivables. This office will
play a key role in finding ways to reduce non-instructiona l costs and to identify cost inefficiencies.
Mr. Chairman, Office Accommodation, bus iness unit 27003, funds the salary of the receptionist,
annual rent, office maintenance, electricity and communication costs of the Church Street Building where the Depart ment of Education is physically located.
Business unit 27040, Educational Stores,
supports the salaries of five staff. The Stores Section provides centralised purchasing, inventory management and distribution [services] to all public schools,
the Bermuda College, and other government depar tments such as the Ministry of Youth and Sport. We
have completed an analysis of Stores operational eff iciencies in support of Plan 2022 Priority #5 and will
now review the findings and develop a plan for the most efficie nt and most effective way of delivering
these services.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27041 funds the
salaries of three bus drivers and two bus attendants,
who provide transportation for children who attend the
Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy and for student s
within our ASD programme at different schools. Also
included in these funds are the salaries for two
groundsmen who maintain school sports fields; and
one Labour, Transport, and Safety Officer. The centre
also funds the costs to maintain the department’s motor fleet.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27042, Buildings,
Grounds, and Equipment, funds the salary of the F acilities Manager who will play a pivotal role in the
school inspections and research guidelines for provi ding modern educational facilities, as st ated in Plan
2022.
Mr. Chairman, the final business unit 27050,
for the Finance and Corporate Programme, is Information Technology Support. One of the major
achievements for this team last year was the install ation of Wi -Fi in primary schools. The focus of the work
in the fiscal year will see the installation of a broadband fibre optic network to all pre, primary and middle schools. This team will simplify the IT structure and
create a high quality availability data centre, develop


Bermuda House of Assembly more efficient and effect ive channels for using Po werSchool, and ensure greater IT mobility and access
to correct information for our user community.
Mr. Chairman, the Finance and Corporate
Section provides key services for our public schools and has been allocated $6,239,000 for the 2019/20
fiscal year.

Programme 1704— Preschools

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I now turn to
page B -146, line item 1704, which is the programme
for our 10 preschools.
The 2019/20 budget for all preschools is
$4,752,000. Of the preschools budg et, 90 per cent
funds salaries. Ten per cent of the budget is used for
operational costs such as electricity, part -time clea ners, phones, office equipment rental, and drinking w ater. Funds will be used for training and development of
our preschool administ rators and teachers with an
emphasis on SEE -KS training (and SEE -KS stands for
Social Emotional Engagement –Knowledge and Skills).

Programme 1705— Primary Schools
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, the next
programme is 1705, Primary Schools, for whic h we
have a budget allocation in 2019/20 of $30,073,000.
The primary school staff have participated in professional learning focused on Standards -Based Grading
and will continue over the next four years.
Mr. Chairman, seven more primary schools
are implem enting the Engineering is Elementary curriculum this year in support of the STEAM education
and Plan 2022 Strategies 2.9.5 and 1.1.4.1. In add ition to the summer STEAM Academy held in July
2018, we also offered a STEAM Academy in [October]
2018.
Business unit 27120, Dame Marjorie Bean
Hope Academy, provides services to students who
have severe to profound multiple challenges. The
main focus of the programme at Dame [Academy] is
to increase students’ independence and to help them achieve their ultimate pote ntial. During the fiscal year
2019/20, this cost centre will be funded with a budget of $734,000 to provide quality services for our st udents.

Programme 1707—Middle Schools

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: We now turn to page B -
147, [programme] 1707, relating t o Middle Schools.
Middle School staff participated in professional lear ning for Standards -Based Grading and are focused on
improving their grading and assessment practices in
alignment with Standards -Based Grading. All five
middle schools are offering enri chment programmes
in support of Plan 2022 Strategy 1.1.4.3. Mr. Chai r-man, the total 2019/20 budget allocation for our five
middle schools is $17,137,000.
Also, Mr. Chairman, you will recall that this
Government promised in its election platform to r eform p ublic education by phasing out middle schools
and introduce signature schools that focus on the
learning styles and interests of our children. These
include, but are not limited to: academic, technical, the
trades, business, sports, arts and special needs education.
To date, several stakeholders have been consulted and research has been undertaken and fin dings collated. The next step will be to use the feedback and information acquired to steer a round table
on determining options on how to move forward wi th
this initiative.

Programme 1708— Senior Schools

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, programme
1708 refers to our two senior secondary schools, the
Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy. Each senior school is provided with an annual grant for the
operational management of their respective school
and the school curriculum.
Students at the senior level continue to benefit
from a diverse local and international curricula and
programmes that prepare them for post -secondary
education. Students have also had the opportunity to
take advanced level courses and participate in dual
enrolment programmes at the Bermuda College.
Senior schools are focusing their efforts on
safe school environments, the mental health and well -
being of students, and the required support for st udents as well as the enhancement of their programme
offerings for students’ college and career readiness.
For fiscal year 2019/20, the Berkeley Institute
and CedarBridge Academy have maintained the same
funding as in 2018/19.

Programme 1709—Curriculum Assessment

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, programme
1709, Curriculum Assessment, funds the Cambridge
International Curriculum and related initiatives, sal aries of subject -specific education officers for curric ulum and assessment, and the Career Pathways Pr ogramme. The department pays an annual fee to Cambridge International for the curriculum and for students
to sit the annual Check Points and IGCSE [ International General Certificate of Secondary Education ]
examinations.
Mr. Chairman, we are in our eighth year of
implementing the Cambridge International Exam inations at P6, M3, and S2. The examinations are funded
from business unit 27020, Assessment and Evalu ation. As we continue to invest in Cambridge Asses sments, it is with the understanding that our results for these assessments must improve.
762 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, business unit 27520, Design,
Development, and Implementation, funds salaries for
seven education officers who are responsible to ensure the effective delivery and ongoing development
of the Cambridge Curriculum in the core and non- core
subjects, school examinations, the Career Pathways
Programme, and all other curricula. Officers are focusing on curriculum implementation, quality instruction
and practice, and the refinement or development of
curricula.
Mr. Chairman, the Curriculum Assessment
Programme, 1709, has been allocated a 2019/20 budget of $2,555,000 for continued delivery of these
educational programmes and services during the next
fiscal year.

Programme 1712— Early Childhood Education

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, the final
programme on page B -147 is 1712, Early Childhood
Education. This programme funds the Child Development and After School Care sub- programmes. Early
Childhood Education represents the foundation for student success at the primary, middle, and senior
levels.
Business unit 27175, Child Development Pr ogramme (CDP) currently funds the salaries of the CDP
staff and programmes implemented by this team. The
team works diligently to maintain their accreditation
status and engages in quarterly performance quality
improvement sessions. The increase in funding of
$126,000 will in part fund a quality assurance officer
to ensure operational standards are maintained with the delivery of services.
Mr. Chairman, the final line item on page B -
147 is business unit 27700, After School Care, w hich
funds the wages of part -time employees who provide
supervision and organised activities to children at four
pre-schools and one school for students with special
needs.
In summary, the continued delivery of services for programme 1712 for the fiscal year 2019/20
has been allocated a total budget of $1,935,000.

Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I now refer
to page B -148, the Subjective Analysis of Current A ccount Estimates for the Department of Education.
Note that we have already covered these expenditures as this page provides an aggregate of the
detailed line item expenditures previously mentioned. The variances of significance for the categories are as
follows:
• Salaries increased and Wages decreased by
$56,000 and $53,000, respectively, mainly due to the reorganisation of substitutes . • Training costs are $32,000 lower due to that
reallocation of local training funds to other line
items .
• Transportation remained the same.
• Travel costs associate d with overseas training
increased by $43,000 as per the reallocation
mentioned above .
• Communication costs increased by $33,000 in
part reflecting the completion of a number of
projects linked to Information Technology
Support .
• Professional Services remained the same.
• Rental costs increased negligibly by $1,000.
• Repair and Maintenance costs decreased by
$10,000 due to a dip in expenditures for r epairs and maintenance.
• Energy costs increased by $33,000 mainly r eflecting an underfunded budget in 2018 for electricity costs at some schools, for example,
T. N. Tatum .
• Material and Supplies expenditure is $40,000
lower as a result of reallocation of electricity costs.
• Grants and contributions decreased by
$29,000 maintaining the funding to two senior schools.

Emp loyee Numbers —Full -Time Equivalents

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, pages B -
149 and B -150 show that there 1,120 FTE posts, a net
change of six compared with the 1,126 FTEs measured in the revised 2018/19 [budget]. The decreased
number of FTEs primarily reflects the regularisation of
the substitutes and paraprofessionals. The depar tment will continue to monitor and review the number of FTEs to ensure both efficiency and effectiveness
with staff resources.

Performance Measures
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, pages B -
151 [to] B -156 list the Performance Measures for the
Department of Education. These measures reflect the
diversity of programmes and initiatives currently being
undertaken by the schools and Department of Educ ation staff in t he areas for which they will be monitored
and held accountable.
Mr. Chairman, let me acknowledge all staff at
the Department of Education —our teachers, princ ipals, administrators, all educators, and our support
staff—for their commitment to public school education
and our children. I want to especially acknowledge our Commissioner of Education who has done a sterling
job in leading the Department of Education. It is the
individual and combined efforts of everyone, plus the
commitment to our students, that will enable us to
achieve the intended outcomes for Plan 2022.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, that concludes my presentation
on Head 17, the Department of Education. I now will
turn to Head 18, the Department of Libraries and A rchives.

HEAD 18 —DEPARTMENT OF
LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, you will see
on page B -162 a note stating that effective April 2018,
Head 19, Archives, merged with Head 18, Department
of Libraries. Therefore, I am presenting the 2019/20
Estimates of Expenditure and Revenue for the D epartment of Libraries and Archives, Head 18, which
are found on page B -158.
Mr. Chairman, the mission statement of the
Department of Libraries and Archives reads as follows: The Department of Libraries and Archives pr eserves and facilitates access to Bermuda’s printed
historical records , cultural works, and the g overnment’s administrative records. We encourage lifelong
learning by dispensing educational and recreational
resources and are committed to providing for the pr esent and future needs of our community .
Mr. Chairman, on page B -158 the 2019/20
budget allocation for the Department of Libraries and
Archives is set at $3,222,000. There is no change in expenditure level over 2018/19. Also, page B -158
shows the General Summary table for the depar tment’s six programmes as listed. The difference in
funding levels for the six programmes when compared
to 2018/19 is due to a reallocation of funds within the
department.
The 2019/20 budget allocation for business
unit 28000, Collection Management, of $561,000 represents an increase of $24,000 compared with the
2018/19 original budget of $537,000. This increase
represents the reallocation of funds to be used for di gitisation of Bermuda materials. The full -time equivalent
(FTE) count for this cost centre is five, as shown on
[page] B -159.
Mr. Chairman, the 2019/20 budget allocation
for Adult Services, business unit 28060, is [$586 ,000.]
The increase of $78,000 is largely due to salaries as
funds are included for the circulation s upervisor post.
The full -time equivalent count for this cost centre i ncreased by one FTE , for a total of seven, as shown on
page B -159.
Mr. Chairman, page B -158 shows a 2019/20
budget allocation for business unit 28100, Archival Services, of $396,000. This represents a 3 per cent
decrease, or $12,000, when compared with 2018/19.
The full -time equivalent count for this cost centre is
four, as shown on page B -159.
Business unit 28110, Youth Services, includes
programmes catering to the youth, which continue t o
be popular with families and children younger than
age 14. The 2019/20 budget is $444,000, a 13 per
cent decrease, or $64,000 decrease, when compared with the $508,000 allocated in 2018/19. The full -time
equivalent for this cost centre is four, as shown on
[page] B -159.
Business unit 28120, Records Management
[Services], totals $795,000. This reflects a marginal
increase of [$31,000] , or 4 per cent over 2018/19. The
Government Record Centre, located in Southside, St.
David’s, provides storage for the government’s noncurrent records in one building. This has created more
efficiency in the ability of staff to undertake day -to-day
records management and has eliminated the need for
staff to travel between facilities to store and retrieve
records.
Mr. Chairman, the last line item in the general
summary table, on page B -158, shows a net decrease
in expenditure estimates for business unit Administr ation 28130, of $57,000 for fiscal year 2019/20, when
compared to last year. The decrease is due to the
promotion of trainee library to assistant library pos ition, thus decreasing the FTE count in this section by two FTEs, as shown on page B -159.

Subjective Analysis for Current
Account Estimates

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, the combined Subjective Analysis f or Current Account Est imates for the Department of Libraries and Archives
can be found on page B -158.
Salary -related expenses show a decrease of
$29,000. There was also a decrease in funding all ocated for professional services and energy. The lar gest incr ease of $47,000 is for Repairs and Maint enance. This is due to an increase in funding for maintenance of the facility to ensure [the] health, saf ety and well -being of the staff and the general public.
Funding in other areas remained in line with 2018/19.
Mr. Chairman, page B -159 shows the FTE
count for the Department of Libraries [and Archives] to be 26 persons in 2019/20. The staff comprises entirely
Bermudian professionals and constitutes the follo wing: one director, five librarians, two appraisal archivists, two records officers, three supervisors, three
information desk assistants, two record assistants, two archive assistants, four circulation assistants, one local studies assistant, and one administrative officer.
Mr. Chairman, the operations of the Bermuda
National Library and Archives are not a major source of revenue for the government, as outlined in the revenue summary table on the top of page B -159. Fees
are charged for the duplication of archival materials,
book fines, library programmes, computer fees, and
photocopier charges. These fees are estimated to
provide revenue of $13,000 for this fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, the Performance Measures for
the Department of Libraries and Archives are listed on
pages B -160 and B -161, showing the 2018/19 re vised
and 2019/20 original outcomes. The department i ssued 40 ISBNs [International Standard Book Number].
764 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly to local authors who took advantage of this free service provided by the department. The Bermuda book
collection is expanding as books are added to both
the reference collection and the circulating collection
with local authors publishing a wealth of books both in Bermuda and overseas.
There were decreases in the number of general reference questions answered and the number of people using the library’s PCs for internet access.
This decrease in the use of PCs can be attributed to a
number of people bringing their personal devices into the library and access ing the free Wi -Fi.
Mr. Chairman, as the Records Management
Section prepares to launch new records management policy, a number of new performance measures are being put in place. These new measures can be seen
on page B -161.
Mr. Chairman, as seen on page C-11, the
Capital Acquisition budget for the National Library for
fiscal year 2019/20 is $27,000. These funds will be
used for the replacement of the fire alarm system at the main library.
At this time, Mr. Chairman, I would like to take
the opportunity to sincerely thank all staff in the D epartment of Libraries and Archives for their commi tment to provide materials for the recreational and ed-ucational needs for our community and to preserve the essential and administrative records of the Bermuda Government and the historical records of Bermuda while facilitating access to these records to the
members of the public.
Mr. Chairman, that ends the 2019/20 budget
for Head 18, Department of Libraries and Archives. I
will now move on to the Bermuda College, Head 41 ,
found on page B -165.

HEAD 41 —BERMUDA COLLEGE

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, Bermuda
College is the only tertiary level institution in Bermuda.
Its mission is: Setting Bermuda’s students on the path
to success through the provision of comprehensive
academic and technical education along with professional training, personal and academic support ser-vices, quality facilities, and interactive partnerships
with local and international entities .
As the only post -secondary institute on the
Island Bermuda College has also realised the signif icant role it plays in the economic growth agenda of
the Government. Bermuda College is committed to
the success of Bermuda’s students offering transfer
programmes that lead to success at the university level. It also provides professional technical and trai ning programmes leading to the success in the wor kplace and preparatory programmes leading to the success in the classroom.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda College receives
a grant from the Ministry of Education and the alloc ation for financial year 2019/20 is $15,906,000. This is the same amount that was received last year. The
College also receives a capital grant in the amount of
$200,000.
Mr. Chairman, [Dr.] Duranda Greene is the
President of the Bermuda College, which is governed by a Board of Governors. The Chair of the Board is

Mrs. R omelle Warner, Deputy Chair; Mrs. Cherie Dill; Mr.
Thomas Famous; Ms. Delight Morris; Mr. Jerome
Reid, Jr.; Mr. Bruce Sharpe; Mrs. Kathleen Sharpe -
Keane; Mr. Nasir Wade; Mrs. Valerie RobinsonJames, Permanent Secretary of Education (ex officio);
Mrs. Malika Cartwright, National Training Board Representative; The Honourable Randolph Horton,
Chairman of the Honorary Fellows; Ms. Necheeka
Trott, Faculty Representative; Mr. Romeo Ruddock,
Support Staff Representative; and Ms. Latifah Smith,
Student Representative.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda College, as an accredited institution with the newly named New Eng-land Commission on Higher Education, continues to
be the most economical choice for Bermudians to
start their journey into higher education. Not only does
it afford great value for money when compared to the
first two years of any four -year institution in the UK,
North America and the Caribbean, but a lso offers a
safe, personal, and student -oriented, student -centred
learning environment.

2018/19 Highlights

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, one of the
major highlights of the College during this past year
has been the completion and adoption of t he new five -
year strategic plan “ Delivering Success .” The plan
was developed with the assistance of a consultant
and input from various internal and external key stakeholders and was adopted by the Board in Oct ober 2018 and is currently being implemented.
The Dual Enrolment Programme, a partnership between the Bermuda College and the Depar tment of Education, continues to be a success and is
increasing in popularity. This past year the Bermuda
College graduated 16 dual enrolment programmes
from the first cohort of the Certificate in Applied Sc ience Technology Programme.
To better serve students the College piloted a
hybrid learning option for its students, whereby much of the course is offered online using the College’s
online course management. These cours es provide
more flexible learning options for students who are not
physically able to attend classes for three hours or
more each week.
Mr. Chairman, as Bermuda College fulfils its
mission of setting Bermuda’s students on their path to success, the abilit y for its students to transfer their
credits to overseas institutions to complete their [baccalaureate] degrees is key. To support the objective,
in November the Bermuda College hosted its first


Bermuda House of Assembly “Bermuda College Transfer Pathways Fair ” which saw
several of its four -year institution partners visit the
campus and share their programmes with college st udents.
Mr. Chairman, to support the Certificate in
Applied Science Technology Programme, the College
installed a mini aquaponics unit outside the Tech Hall
Building. The unit is supporting 12 plant species which
are fertilised by fish waste while plant roots filter the
water for the fish; hence, there is almost zero waste
within the system.
Mr. Chairman, as Bermuda’s community co llege, Bermuda College continues to do its part to not
only educate students, but also educate and inform the community at large through various events organ-ised through the year. Such events include the College’s annual Science Week activities and its public
forums.
During the 2019 Sc ience Week events, the
College welcomed more than 600 public and private students and members of the general public to its campus. The public forum featured Bermudian, Dr.
Carika Weldon, a Bermudian biochemist and r esearcher at Oxford University. More than 150 indivi duals attended her lecture entitled, “Knowing your G enetic Code; How DNA Sequencing is Becoming More
Personal.”
The Science Demo Day was attended by 260
middle school students, while the master class saw participation by 75 high school students . Other events
included the increasingly popular Live, Love, Eat culinary arts demonstration with Chef Teneika Eve and her culinary art students which, once again, saw c apacity crowds fill the cafeteria.
Mr. Chairman, in November 2018 the Berm uda College organised and hosted a “Race and R esistance” conference in cooperation with Oxford Uni-versity and the Human Rights Commission. This conference saw participation from various local and overseas presenters and was attended by more than 250
individuals.
The Nursing Department also hosted a forum
on Alzheimer’s, which has become a major issue for
Bermuda with our ageing population and this forum
was attended by more than 90 individuals.
Mr. Chairman, in October 2018 Bermuda Co llege Foundation was incorporated as a Company Li mited by Guarantee; and as the fund- raising arm of the
Bermuda College its main objective is to increase pr ivate and individual support for the College.
Three new Honorary Fellows were inducted
into the Bermuda College Company of Honorary Fe llows. Mr. Andrew Banks, Mr. Peter Durhager, and Dr.
Wilbert Warner were honoured and celebrated for the
significant contributions they have made to their r espective fields.

Output Measures
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, supporting
output measures for the Bermuda College’s activities
are as follows:
In 2018 Bermuda College graduated 150 st udents with associate degrees, diplomas, or certif icates.
In addition, six individuals received Bachelor
of Business Administrative degrees through the Ber-muda College’s long- standing partnership with Mount
Saint Vincent University.
Mr. Chairman, in December the division on
Professional and Career Education (PACE) awarded 104 professional designations and Workforce Deve lopment certificates. In addition, 14 public high school
students received their certificates in nursing assistant as part of the Department of Education’s Dual Enrolment Programme with 209 high school students ear ning their City & Guilds entry -level introductory award in
Employability Skills at their high school graduation.
The awards represented 12 areas of specialisation.
Mr. Chairman, in fall of 2018 the College enrolled 712 students. There were also 557 registrants
through PACE in the same period. This year student
enrolment surpassed the numbers of fall 2017 when
652 students [were] enrolled while 327 were serviced through PACE. The increase in student enrolment can be directly attributed to this Government’s $300,000
grant given to the Bermuda College to support st udents who needed financial assistance.
Mr. Chairman, in 2018, Bermuda College r eceived $15,906,000, or 78 per cent of its operating budget from the Bermuda Government grant. The
Bermuda College also received a special grant in the
amount of $300,000 to assist students in financial
need with their tuition. As a result of this grant, a total
of 198 awards, ranging from $223 to $8,600, were
issued to students with financial need in both the ac ademic and PACE divisions at the College during the
2018 academic year.
The College also received $125,000 specif ically allocated for training in the areas of landscaping,
gaming and nursing. As a result of the additional funding seven landscaping students are on track to co mplete the programme over the next fiscal year and 14
nursing student s were assisted in financing their mandatory overseas practicums at SickKids in Canada
and Temple University in the United States.
Revenue of $4,357,410 from all other
sources, included: student tuitions and fees for credit courses; revenue generated by P ACE; bookstore revenue; testing centre revenue and rental income; i ncluding Coco Reef Resort. This amount together with the Government’s Grant made up a total revenue fi gure for 2018/19 of $20,257,410.
Mr. Chairman, during this period salaries and
benefit s accounted for $13,389,000, or 66 per cent of
the budget. This represents a 1 per cent decrease in
766 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly salaries when compared to 2017/18. This decrease is
mainly attributable to the College not filling select
posts vacated during the year as it continues to d ecrease its labour costs.
During the 2019 fiscal year, the College expensed $69,123 to develop its new five- year strategic
plan “ Delivering Success ” and started the first year of
implementation. This included hiring a consultant to assist with the initial phase of rebranding the College.
The IT expenditures for the year include
$200,000 of hardware purchases and $400,000 on contracts and licences to support teaching and lear ning as well as the College’s administrative functions.
The College also upgraded it s Internet bandwidth from
75 megabits per second to 200 megabits per second
to improve the user experience on campus.
Maintenance and improvement of the physical
plant of the Bermuda College continues to be part of
the College’s commitment to provide a saf e and
healthy environment for the students and employees.
By the end of this fiscal period the College is projected to spend approximately $280,000 in cleaning contracts, $330,000 on maintenance, and $45,000 on
basic campus upgrades.
Bermuda College expend s $450,000 on i nsurance and is projected to spend $1,095,000 on electricity and other utilities during the 2018/19 fiscal
year.
In total, $150,000 of financial assistance was
allocated to students enrolled in academic divisions
who demonstrated financial need. This amount doubled during the 2018/19 academic year to offset the
change in the College’s tuition and fee structure which resulted in significant increases in tuition for full -time
students.
The College expensed $100,000 towards i ncorporation and operation of the Bermuda College Foundation.
As a result of $500,000 in capital funding r eceived in 2018/19, Bermuda College was able to continue to make much needed upgrades to its aging
plant. This included upgrades to its network infrastructure, replacing outdated computers, replacing chairs in
some classrooms, replacing automatic doors, replacing lighting poles, and completing upgrades to the
student centre. The College started the process of replacing carpets throughout the campus with tile
flooring to provide a healthier work environment for its
employees.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda College conti nues to utilise internal stakeholders as part of its annual
budget process. The Budget Committee includes rep-resentatives from the Student Government Council,
faculty, support staff, members of the executive, and a
selection of budget managers. The goal of the Budget
Committee is to prepare a balanced budget to present to the Board Finance Committee and, ultimately, the
Board for final approval. Salaries continue to form a majority of the
College’s budgeted expenses and the College conti nues to review its operations seeking ways to decrease its labour costs while still providing a quality education
for its students.
Mr. Chairman, “ Delivering Success ,” the Bermuda C ollege’s new five- year strategic plan, will be a
blueprint to steer the College towards its 50
th anniversary in 2024. Being set aside is $150,000 for impl ementing the first year of the plan which includes the next phase of rebranding the College.
Utilising the $300,000 grant to assist students
with financial need, the College will endeavour to e nsure no student is prohibited from attending Bermuda College as a result of limited household income. It is anticipated that a similar number of students will be
assisted with the 2019/20 financial assistance grant.
Mr. Chairman, $125,000 will be utilised to
provide training in three areas: landscaping, nursing,
and compliance. As there continues to be a shortage
of Bermudian landscapers and nurses on Island $40,000 will continue to be provided for students e ntering these two industries. With so many industries requiring compliance professionals, Bermuda College
is working with its Compliance Advisory Board and will
offer a range of compliance courses and certifications
to those new to the industry as well as those who are currently in the industry but have no certification. Forty-five thousand dollars will be set aside to support
students in this emerging industry.
Additionally, approximately $40,000 will be
used to support the development of the National Educators Institute, which will provide a centralised entity
for public and private school educators and counsellors at all levels to engage in and benefit from professional development, professional learning and r esearch.
The $200,000 capital grant will be utilised to
continue upgrades to the College’s ageing plant.
Mr. Chairman, as stated earlier, one of the action steps coming out of the “ Delivering Success ,”
Bermuda College’s five- year strategic plan, was to
rebrand the College. The process is expected to be completed by the beginning of the next academic
year. In July 2019 Bermuda College will celebrate its
45
th anniversary and its focus will be reconnecting with
its alumni, with the ultimate goal to have an accur ate
database of their alumni, including the three anteced-ent institutions.
Bermuda College will continue to work with
the Department of Education to provide college courses to qualified students through its dual enro lment programme. The Bermuda College wil l continue
to forge alliances with professional credentialing and
accrediting agencies for Workforce Development, and
professional certification, such as the Association for Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); Building
Owners and Management Institute ( BOMI) for building


Bermuda House of Assembly owners and managers; and City & Guilds for the applied sciences.
As part of the new compliance offering, the
College will establish partnerships with the UK -based
International Compliance Association and a US -based
Association of Certifi ed Anti -Money Laundering specialists and the Caribbean- based KIXKO.
During the 2019/20 academic year, the first
Allied Health course will be offered through the newly
established division of Nursing and Allied Health.
Bermuda College will develop a Marine Sc ience Programme with the assistance of its newly established Marine Science Advisory Committee consisting of the various marine science professionals.
The first courses are expected to be offered in the fall
of 2020.
The Bermuda College also expects that the
Bermuda College Foundation and the National Educ ators Institute will be fully operational during the next
fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, as I close I wish to thank the
Board, the executive, admi nistration, faculty and staff
of the Bermuda College for their hard work throughout
the year and I look forward to working with them in the
upcoming year.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and this concludes
the budget on Head 41, the Bermuda College, and my
overall presentation of t he 2019/20 budget for the Mi nistry of Education.

[Mr. Rolfe Commissiong, Chairman]

[Microphone off] . . . t he exercise, yet again.
First of all, I would like to begin by stating that
I am del ighted that the Plan 2022 has, basically, taken
grips. And when I first reviewed the Budget Book I
saw that all Heads, visions, and objectives were realigned to the Plan 2022. So I know that the Plan has
taken a lot of work, a lot of community input, and as a
consequence it is comforting to see that movement has progressed in reshaping the Ministry to meet the
needs of the community.
In addition, from a general point of view, for
Heads 16, 17 and 41, I have to also indicate that there
is a sense of fiscal discipline. The Minister has stayed
within his means. I do not see any large overcharges or increases from last year, so I applaud the team for their fiscal discipline in working with the resources that
they have.
Mr. Chairman, now I would like to get int o the
general situation. I would like to refer to Community
Education [on page] B -141. I find it very interesting
that the Community Education Development has
moved out of the Ministry [since] only last year the
Minister said that “the Government’s platfor m aligned
the Community Education Development Programme
with the Ministry of Education to ensure life- long lear ning and accessibility to education. Thus, the CEDP
now falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of
Education.”
Those were his words last y ear, Mr. Chai rman, and my question is: What happened? What changed in one year? It, to me, made eminent sense
and if you are committed to life- long education, I felt
that it should have remained under the Ministry of E ducation. I have heard the Minister’s brief and I did not
hear his justification for the move from the Ministry of
Education to the other Ministry. And I think that the
community deserves an explanation in that space.
Mr. Chairman, the other issue that I would like
to address under the General Administration is the
issue of the Parental Involvement Committee. This Committee, basically, was established in, I think,
2016/17 and I think it is still an active committee. Their mandate was to get parents involved in the education process and also [to ] provide support to our teachers,
principals and the Ministry of Education by, basically,
being on the same page as the Department and our
teachers and principals. So my questions are, How many times have the Parental Involvement Committee
met? And what r ecommendations have they put forward? And what have they achieved to date? I thought that [committee] would be useful for the community because, I think, again, this was a noble initi ative and I thought that we have to keep on top of their
contributions as they provide a valuable resource to
education.
Ministry Headquarters, as was said earlier,
this level of funding is a reflection of monies allocated for the continued development and delivery of the
strategic plan and the implementation of, as I said, the
Parental Involvement Committee, in the past. In 2019, there was an allotment of $3,579,000, an increase of
40 per cent, or $1.53 million. The increase was attributed to $368,000 going to the General Administr ation and that was up 55 per cent; and Grants t o Exte rnal Bodies to 1.16 per cent, and that was up 75 per
cent, or $479,000. Scholarship Awards were up
17 per cent.
Obviously, I have some questions and I would
like to address my questions. Line 260 [sic] , the Mini ster began to provide some of the achi evements in r egard to the 2022 Strategic Plan. I noticed some of them were IT related, some of them were reposition-ing of departments, in addition there were the Stan dards-Based Grading issues —they are all part of that
768 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Plan. What are his expectations for 2019? I heard
what he said he did for 2018, but I did not get a clear
picture—

So what does he expect to
achieve in 2019? He gave us a clear indication of
what was achieved in 2018, but what can we expect in
2019?
As far as the staffing complement, I see we
increased the staff for that area from three to seven,
up 133 per cent. From the Headquarters’ point of
view, the other question I have that has never been resolved publicly is, Can the Minister provide details
on the final dollar settlement for the former Commi ssioner of Education? Because that issue was never
made public and I think community funds were al-lowed —

I will continue, Mr. Chairman.
That is my question, what is going on in regard to the
settlement and how much does . . . how much did the
Minister pay for that because they were public funds?
The other issue I would like to address ––it is
like all strategic plans, you have a vision, you have
objectives, you have targets ––has the Minister considered an organisational structure in the Headquarters to make sure that the organisation in the Headquarters is properly aligned with the strategic plan? I know when I was the Minister I met with the consul tant and we discussed this issue. And he thought that,
you know, for maximum effectiveness the Headquarters could consider reorganising itself to be more
compliant and to make it more efficient in the delivery
of the 2022 Strategic Plan. So I would like for the Mi nister to provide details on the organisational restructuring of Headquarters to make sure it is in the best
position to deliver the strategic plan.
While on the Headquarters, Mr. Chairman,
like every professional we have to do professional
development days, leadership training, and gover nance training. I have not heard anything in that r e-spect. Do we have a professional development or
leadership training programme in place for the senior
officers of the Ministry, i.e., the Commissioner of Education and the PS? Because, like all professionals, we
have to keep our skills up to date and we all c an do
with a bit of fine- tuning and improving our skills.

Hon. Di allo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman.

So, Mr. Chairman, again, I
think this is crucial. We recently have had issues with
the vote of no confidence by the Bermuda Union of
Teachers, and to me the biggest challenge is not nec-essarily the capabilities of the professional leadership
of the department. I think the biggest challenge that
we face is communicat ions, communications, communications, communications. And I have to admit —
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, again, he
keeps mentioning the department. He is talking about
the Headquarters.

Okay, just have a seat there, Shadow
Minister.
Minister, your concern, again, is what?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: My concern, Mr. Chairman,
is the Shadow Minister keeps talking about things that
fall under the Department of Education while he is still
talking about Head 16. If he is going to t alk about
Head 16, talk about Head 16. If he is going to talk
about the Department of Education, Head 17, then
talk about Head 17. But do not mix the two. We are
here to do an economic debate of what is here within
the Budget Book.

—we are talking about the
strategic leadership and direction of the Ministry of
Education through its Headquarters. And, as a cons equence, what I am trying to do is to make sure that the
senior team in Headquarters gets the skills and support that they ne ed to do a more effective role.
Mr. Chairman, and so —
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I am trying
to help out my learned friend. I am trying to help out. I am trying to help out. The senior team in . . . the senior team in the Ministry Headquarters is the Minister,
the Permanent Secretary, and the administrative assistant. He is referring to the Department of Educ ation. And if he wants to refer to that, move on to that
page.

Mr. Chairman, I have all the
respect for the PS, the Permanent Secretary, and I know, as a professional, I need support and guidance
and I need to be sharpened up e very now and then.
And so, I think she, like every other professional, should get the support that she deserves so that she can do the best that she can do in the time that she is
in that role.

—in regard to the Union.
And, you know, I said that it is unfortunate, and I believe that they need the support so that it does not happen again. And I will say t he same thing when I
get to the Commissioner of Education, because I
know that the Commissioner of Education is new in
the job. And when I saw that, I was like surprised and,
again, I believe the challenges faced by the Commi ssioner of Education —

The Chai rman: Okay, you are at —

First of all, I would like to,
again, as I say, commend the Commissioner of Education for maintaining a tight ship financially. It is diff icult in these trying times. And the fact that she has so
many people reporting to her, so many priorities, I think t hat it should not go unnoticed.
As was said, the Department of Education
provides “students with equitable access to holistic,
high-quality instruction that is culturally relevant and
empowers students to reach their full potential .”
In addition, you know, [the Department is] r esponsible for developing critical thinkers, making sure
that our literacy strategy has been adhered to and
achieved, [overseeing] Success Academy, investing in
quality teaching through international and professional
development —the y have a very, very broad mandate.
And so, again, I know it is a difficult task and I want to commend the Commissioner of Education. I see some
green shoots of hope. I will say to her, Keep at it. It’s
going to be difficult. And all I can do is keep the li nes
of communication open and show real leadership. I
know you have done it in the past. Keep up the good
work. Again, as I said, I was disappointed or felt very
uncomfortable when I saw the no confidence vote in both the PS and the Commissioner of Educati on. So
keep up the good work, keep the lines of communic ation [open].
And, again, I say to you, Commissioner of
Education: We all need support and if the Ministry can provide you with the resources that will help you de-velop further in your leadership skil ls, in your ma nagement skills, and negotiation skills and communic ation skills, then I will support it and applaud it 100 per
cent. So, again, keep focused because the community is depending on you.
I would like to move now to centre 27000,
again, 171, General Administration. The General A d-ministration will cover inventory purchases of add itional educational and office supplies for the school year. Other administrative expenses covered include
freight charges, customs duties, and shipping costs.
Mr. Chairm an, we still have a problem in this
space because many teachers have come to me and indicated that they are still taking money out of their
pockets to pay for supplies for their classroom, some
up to $100 –$150 a term. And this problem has been a
perennial problem. It was a problem when I was there
and now I see the problem still exists under the new Ministry. We need to address this issue. I heard the
Minister say that a study had taken place and they are
trying to bring this matter to some resolution. I th ink it
needs to be done sooner than later.
In addition, I think something needs to be
done to reimburse our teachers for the money that
they have spent out of their pockets to provide supplies and, in some cases, food to our students who
have been . . . to some students who cannot afford or
are not privileged enough to be able to bring lunches
and breakfasts, and have breakfast and lunch before coming to school. So, again, I think that we need to
somehow support these teachers, reimburse them for
any out of pocket expenses that they indulge in to
make things work and to make things better for our
students to make sure that they are well positioned to
provide and get the best outcome from our educatio nal system.
The other issue that I would like to speak to i s
the issue of Standards -Based Grading. Mr. Chairman,
I have to admit I went to a public meeting and I thought the public meeting was very, very informative.
I think the leadership of that meeting did a fantastic
job in explaining the process to everyone i n atten dance. There were a lot of questions, a lot of queries,
but I think the biggest challenge that the parents found
was that no one from the Ministry was there.
They kept saying, Where is the Ministry representative? That is all they kept saying. They kept
saying, Where is the Ministry representative?
Well, we had the teams doing the leadership
and, you know, providing the direction for the pr ogramme charting a new course—Standards -Based
Grading —and, as I said, they did a great job in provi ding details . I felt comforted in the programme and I
recognised that we have a long ways to go and that
this programme will take a number of years to impl ement. So, again, we have to keep to the wicket, be
focused, be measured, and do our best to ensure that
it is de livered on time and that we have a proper i mplementation plan.
I have a schedule that I saw, they kindly pr ovided this schedule here —year one, year two, year
three—the multi -year transitional and implementation
plan. This, to me, is a great step in the right direction. But like all plans, they need to be adhered to. They need to have discipline and the team members must
meet their targets and deadlines. And I understand


Bermuda House of Assembly that the Commissioner of Education will be respons ible for the overall delivery and ensuring that these
targets are met. So in this respect we have laid the
foundation and it is upon the Department of Education
and the Commissioner to ensure that the delivery is on time and on budget. You have a four -year delivery
and implementation plan. It appears to be complete.
And so I just trust that you are provided with the r esources to make sure that we are on target at the end
of each year and that by year four the entire pr ogramme is implemented.

Shadow Minister Simons, there has
been a general trend here on both sides to migrate in
the Committee to debates, and an excess of co mments, observations and analysis that quite rightly
belong in the realm of the general debate. And both
sides have been doing it over the last few years. We
know this.
We just ask, without being too punitive, that
you spend some time drilling down on the numbers
here as well. And let us try to respect the fact that we
are in Committee and spend sufficient time dealing
with those matters that reflect that.
Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
With that . . . I accept the Chairman’s comments, and so I am going to put this question to the
Minister: Now that we have a transition and implementation plan, how much does he think will be allotted for
each year? And how much does he think the entire
implementation plan will cost because that has never been made public?
So I would suggest, now that we have a transition plan, that he provide the finances to support
each year and provide the community with comfort
that these finances are being well spent. And that at
the end of each year they can say $1 million or $2
million has been allotted and spent to achieve the objectives of year one and this is how that money was
spent; year two the allotment was $4 million, it was
used by the Steering Committee, it was used for trai ning, it was used for professional development , and so
on and so forth. Again, basically a breakdown on how the funds will be applied from year to year for the i mplementation of the S tandards -Based Grading. Again,
it is all part of the blueprint to move forward, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I will move on to Human R esources. Basically, Human Resources provides sup-port to the Ministry and is responsible for a number of things. They develop standards for professional lear ning that are aligned with international standards. They
develop a list of approved universities and colleges for
prospective teachers. They lead the process for r ecruiting professional development officers. And they
administer and employ engagement surveys. Again, these are monumental tasks. These
are required. And, as a consequence, I would like to
ensure that they are well positioned to succeed.
While on Human Resources, the Minister
spoke of the number of teachers that we had in our school system today. My question is, Does he have a
further breakdown on how many male teachers we
have in our system? And how many new male teac hers we basically took on board in 2018/19 and
2019/20? The other question is, What per cent of our
teachers are Bermudian and what percentage are expatriate?
I am asking that because I would just like to
see—

[Inaudible interjection]

I am asking that because I
would like to see whether we have many new teac hers in the p ipeline and [what are] their opportunities
for them when they return home given that there possibly could be a team of expatriate teachers within our system. So if he can give us that breakdown, it would
be appreciated.
The other question that I have has to do with
SCARS training. And I was listening carefully to see
whether this programme continues and whether we
still have, as a requirement, that SCARS training should be required for all primary school teachers, all
middle school teachers, and all second ary school
teachers. Where do we stand in ensuring that the
SCARS training is taking place? How many teachers have completed it? How many have yet to complete
[it]? And when do we expect to have all of our teac hers on board and qualified in the space of SC ARS
training?
The other issue that I would like to address is
succession planning. The Department of Education,
like any other business, has to continue on. We have to ensure that we have the best people at the top and
the best people for our students and the best people
for our community. Can the Minister tell us what succession planning framework he has in place for the
Department of Education at the senior level? And will
he be willing to table and make public that succession planning document?
School Improvements, Head 1701, 27031.
This cost centre funds the salaries of four mentor teachers. My question is, How many teachers do we
have registered in the teacher mentoring programme
at this point in time? How long is the programme? And how are these ment ors trained themselves to ensure
that they meet international best practice standards
for mentor teachers?
I know that these mentor teachers are first
class teachers, they are master teachers, and they
have a passion for what they do. I have met them. I have seen them at various events and they love what
they do. And, again, like the senior team, I believe that
772 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly they too are entitled to support, they too are entitled to
training, leadership skills, pedagogy skills, improv ements, just to make them better at w hat they do and
to also allow them to have more job enrichment. Most
of these mentor teachers are young teachers. They have a long way to go and so I just want to make sure
that they have the skills to be the best that they can
be and that they can be proud of the role that they
have as mentor teachers and they can give the best to
the teachers that will follow them.
So, again, how many teachers are currently
registered in the mentor teaching programme? How many were registered last year?
The other issue that I would like to speak to is
the school improvement plans. The Minister touched
upon the school improvement plans, and my question
is, Have all of our schools completed a school i mprovement plan? That goes from our preschools to our primary schools to our middle schools and to our
secondary schools. Are they all finished? If they are
not finished, when do we expect to have all the plans finished? And when will the recommendations of the
plans be ready to be implemented?
It is fine having the plans, but th ey must be effective if the children will benefit. So my questions are: What percentage of schools has school improvement
plans completed? How many are still in process? And
what percentage of the schools has begun to impl ement the recommendations in the s chool improvement
plans once they have been approved by the Ministry?
Mr. Chairman, this department is also responsible for the initiatives to improve the Cambridge Checkpoints and the IGSC results for math, English, and science. Last year we had two Cambr idge International consultants on the island to observe the delivery of the curriculum in our three core subjects and
the Minister had indicated that he would provide—

Okay?
And so, as I said, we have . . . we were going
to develop a comprehensive plan that will focus on
improving the teaching of mathematics in our schools.
And the Minister said last year that he would keep us
abreast of where thi ngs stood in that space. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.

Minister, what is the point of order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Our . . . he . . . the Shadow
Minister is misleading the House.
Are we having a general debate of how money was spent last year? Or are we having a debate
about what we are going to do in the upcoming year
with the budget that we presented?

Like I said, we have traditionally, hi storically, had some leeway in this regard, particularly
over the last few years. Shadow Minister, if you would
have maybe elucidated some of that in your opening
comments it is fine, but by this time you should be into the . . . into the numbers, the matters at hand here
with respect to the issues under consideration by this
Committee—

So my question . . . I find this
transfer interesting, because, in essence, we reduced
the number of substitute teachers. And, as you said
earlier, schools have a genuine need of coverage for
teachers who are either sick or need to take time
away from sch ool for various personal reasons as per
their collective bargaining agreement.
Now, the Minister has moved the $2.415 mi llion to the Paraprofessionals. When he said that to me
the question that jumped to my mind was this, the last time I noted, substitute teachers are qualified teachers
and have different skill sets than paraprofessionals
and so they cannot be used interchangeably. So my
comment is, if we had so many substitute teachers
last year and we managed to cover the absenteeism
of other teachers, how does he envision addressing this challenge this year with such a lower number of
substitute teachers in the system?
So that is just —

[Inaudible interjection]

The other question that I
have is . . . I did not see an allotment for the Orient ation Workshop for Uncertified Substitute Teachers.
Can he give us an update on the workshops for sub-stitute teachers in general and how much was allotted
for training and an orientation workshop for the subst itute teachers? I suspect this amount should have
been reduced because of an allotment that was trans-ferred to the Paraprofessionals. So if the Minister can
give me an update on the Orientation Workshop for Substitute Teachers it would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, now we are moving on to Student Services. Student Services is on page B -145 and the total
allotment for Student Services is $19,755,000. Okay? These services include gifted and talented education, behaviour management, school psychologists, ada ptive p hysical education, deaf and hard- of-hearing su pport, visually impaired, special education, counselling, paraprofessionals, autism spectrum disorder, and a lternative education and out -of-school suspension.
These, Mr. Chairman, are special needs st udents. And I would like to know if the Minister is able
to quantify the number of students that fall into this
special needs category. I heard him say, off the rec-ord, Was I serious?
I said, I am very serious because if you are
going to resolve a problem you have to quantify it.
And so my questions are, How many students
do we have in the system that fall into the special
needs category that we need to provide with additio nal support? And have we completed individual educ ation programmes for all of them? If we hav e, great. If
we have not, then what are we doing to ensure that
the individual education programmes are in place for
those children?
Now that we have the educational pr ogrammes, how often do we meet with the parents of
these students so that we are all on the same page?
We are in this together —the parents, the Ministry, and
the students. How often are they required to meet with
the parents? Because, for it to work , we all have work
together as a team. So will the Minister provide us
with an insight as to how often the parents will meet
with the team to go over the individual education plans for their child or children?
Mr. Chairman, the other question that I have
in this space is, What ongoing training do we have for teachers and paras in the special needs arena? B ecause, again, we want the best out of our teachers, we want the best out of our paras. You will find that I am very keen on training to make sure that the pr o774 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly fessionals do the best that they can and that our st udents get the best outcomes.
Behav ioural Management, that is 27061. The
total allotment for that is $1,164,000. That is on
page 5 [sic]. Can the Minister give an update on this
“alternative school models”?

What does this have to do
with the budget? the Minister said.
Well, guess what, Mr. Chairman? At the end
of the day we are in the midst of delivering the 2022
Plan—the educational strategic plan— and in that Plan
there is an accommodation for this. And I am asking
the Minister to do what he has to do and provide the
community with this information. Had he not rushed
through his brief and not provided the details, I would not have to ask these questions, Mr. Chairman.

[Inaudible interjection]

So right now we have a
number of educational therapists in the system and they basically provide support to high- risk students.
How many students do we have in this programme?
What is the caseload?
I just want to make sure that the educational
therapists are not stretched too far in the delivery of
the services that they provide. I just want to ensure
that they are effective in providing the resources and
support that our young people need. And, again, for
each of these at -risk students do we have a personal
improvement plan?
School psychologists, we are on page—

—B-145, School Psychol ogists, 27063. School psychologists play a vital role in
the execution of our aims and objectives, and they
support our schools’ commitment to all students in the
public education system. The school psychologists
support school administrators and students in the ar eas of behaviour, mental health and learning. They deliver comprehensive psycho- educational evaluations;
provide consultations and short -term counselling.
The questions I have are: How many school
psychologists do we have? What caseload is there for
each of the school psychologists? And, again, how
many at -risk students need to be supported in the
programme.
So my questions, I repeat: What is the cas eload for each school psychologist? And how many at -
risk students are in the programme across the Island?
If we are spending this money we have to know the scale of the challenge (I am not going to say “pro blem,” I am going to say “challenge”), because these
people are our loved ones and we need to give them
the support that they rightfully d eserve.
The other question I have [about] the ps ychologists is: How many comprehensive psycho-educational evaluations, consultations, short -term
counselling, and intervention and preventive services
do they have logged up for the year?
So that is it for the psychologists.
I now move to cost centre 1702, 27064, Adaptive Physical Education. And that, basically, has an
allotment of $273,000, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Adaptive
physical education is another student services pr ogramme that supports students with specific needs by providing access to services through modifications
adapted to meet the needs of those students. Ther efore, the adaptive physical education could be consi dered the art and science of developing, implementing and monitoring a carefully designe d physical educ aBermuda House of Assembly tion instructional programme for a learner with disabi lity.
Again, like my other question, how many st udents are involved in this programme? And is this
linked to the personal development programme for each child? And have you seen any trends across the
schools in regard to the programme and the services
being delivered and the challenges that we have
found in the schools and in the adaptive physical ed ucation? There may be trends taking place that we can address that would help a number of the students.
Hearing, that is cost centre 27065. There is an
allotment of $302,000. The Deaf and Hard- of-Hearing
Programme provides students with academic instruc-tion within the public school general curriculum through services that support each student’s learning
needs as determined by their individual educational plan.
How many students do we have who are
hearing challenged? I do not want to say “ impaired” —
hearing challenged. And how many schools support
these students? How many students are in each
school? The Minister did not provide those details, so
I was wondering if his support team can provide the
House with those details. Again, how many schools
support the hearing challenged students? And how
many students are in each school? I know at one point we had a presence at Prospect Preschool, Gi lbert, Dellwood, and CedarBridge. I do not know if this is still current. In addition, we had two at Dame Marj orie Bean Hope Academy. So, I wonder if they can give
us an update on those numbers.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to move on to
Vision Impaired. That is on page B -145, line item
27066. It is a well -documented and understood fact
that students with visual impairments have unique
educational needs, which are most effectively met
using a team approach of professionals, parents and
students. In order to meet these unique needs, st udents must have a specialised service, books, mater ials, in appropriate media. Now, Mr. Chairman, I understand that we have adjusted to the Cambridge Curriculum so that these stud ents are supported through
some type of compensatory skills, so that the students
are visually supported.
Now, at one point I knew that we had 72 st udents. I think that was around 2016/17. If the Minister
can tell us how many we have now, what is the cas eload? How many students did we have in 2018/19,
and how many students do we have in 2019/20? That
is, how many visually impaired students?
How many students at this point have graduated from our senior schools? Because at the end of
the day, the success of the programme will be defined
by those students who basically graduate from our
middle schools and senior schools. So, the question becomes, in regard to the visually impaired, how
many of them have graduated from our senior schools in 2017/18? Again, it is called, Is this money getting
value?
[Inaudible interjections]

For Counselling, there was
an allotment of $2.884 million. The Counselling pr ogramme provides our students with a multi tude of d irect and indirect counselling services and activities
that are an integral component of the public education
system. We provide funds for 10 middle school counsellors and two counsellors for the senior schools.
Last year, we were going to provide complete global
career training for officer certification for the counsel-lors.
The questions are, is this programme ongoing? Did the counsellors who participated in last year’s programme graduate? How many are currently regi stered, and how many, as I said, completed the training
for the officer global career training for officer certific ation in the counselling space? Again, we are investing in these people, and we need to ensure that they, b asically, hold up their end and that the schools get what is be st for their students. So, again, have the counsellors been certified in regard to the Global Career
Training Programme?
We spoke about the learning support teac hers, so I will just pass on that for now.
Early Childhood Education. Mr. Chairman,
Early Chi ldhood Education, which is line item 27076,
and the budget was $115,000, up $1,000 from last
year. As was said earlier, this cost centre basically
reflects the funding of the salary of the Educational
Officer of Early Childhood Education and provides an
operational budget. It also is responsible for suppor ting the Inquiring Minds Framework. To support the implementation of the Inquiring Minds Framework in our preschools, we need to ensure that all preschool
teachers are well trained and on board.
So, can t he Minister provide an update on
where things stand on the Inquiring Minds Fram ework? And have all the teachers been trained in this
space? In fact, I think I heard him say that he was go-ing to hire an early childhood quality assurance officer
to provide s upport and training for coaching of the
776 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly preschool teachers. The department was going to hire
this person.
And, see, Mr. Chairman, he said it this year.
He had the same thing down last year. Again, how
can we assure ourselves that he is going to deliver again this year? This is a repeat from last year, and
that is the challenge that I have. This is why I am going back in 2018/19. I got this from the Hansard, Mr.
Chairman. And so, at the end of the day, if you are not
going to deliver one year, how can I feel confident that
you are going to deliver next year?
So, again, as I said, I am looking forward to
see where we are with the full implementation of the
Inquiring Minds Framework for our preschool teac hers. They play an invaluable role. They lay the foundation for learning. And they basically are there to pr epare our youngsters for the primary schools and lif elong learning. And, to me, that foundation has to be
spot-on and sound. So, again, can we get more details as to where we stand on the Inquiring Mind s
Framework? How many students are enrolled? How
many teachers are enrolled? And how many have
graduated in the last year?
Paraprofessionals. This is line item 27079,
and this was an increase of 57 per cent, or $2.4 mi llion. And the total allotment was $4.214 [million]. And I
see that we will have 111 paraprofessionals this co ming year. And I would like to have heard, with the add itional 23 paraprofessionals, how they will be used. The Minister obviously thought there was a need for
23 more paraprofessionals, and he had a reason for
that. I understand that when we had our challenges
with some of the schools, one of the challenges was paraprofessionals. So, can he tell us how the add itional 23 paraprofessionals will be deployed, where
they will be deployed t o, and which programmes do
we have in place for training these new paraprofes-sionals to ensure that they get the best outcomes for
our students?
Autism Spectrum Disorder, programme 1702,
business unit 27083. We have allotted $687,000, up
3 per cent. Last year, the Ministry made a commi tment to provide training to autistic teachers and paras.
[Inaudible interjection]

If you will allow me one m inute. I was speaking to a neighbour, and her son is
autistic. And I said to her, How is your son doing?
And she said to me, Oh, he graduates in April.
I said, What is he going to do next? She said, You know, he is such a go- getter.
He has signed up for English as a second language
and will be teaching English in China.
And so, to your point, “ autistic teachers ” . . . .
we have autistic teachers, and they are [as] effective as anybody else.

[Desk thumping]

So, again, training, training,
training.
Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy. At one
point, I understand, they were looking for a designated
classroom for the autistic students. Where do things
stand in that space? Are we in a position to provide them with one? When can they expect to receive one?
Or is it in progress already?
Again, my favourite perennial question is,
How many students do we have in the Autisti c Spe ctrum Disorder Programme across our school system?
How many students, and where are they located?
In addition, under the Autism Spectrum, there
is the issue of the Autistic Diagnostic Observation
Schedule, a screening and assessment opportunity.
This is basically performed by the Child Development
Agency. And my question is, from an autism perspective, what percentage of the two- to three- year-old
population that has been screened through the Auti stic Diagnostic Observation Schedule —what percentage of their population show signs of some degree of
autism? And do we have a support programme for
them? So, if the Minister can give us an indication of whether it is 1 per cent or 2 per cent or 3 per cent of
the two- to three- year-olds who come in and show
signs of autism, so that we know what we have to deal
with from a planning point of view in primary schools
and preschools.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I am moving on to bus iness unit 27084, Alternative Education. That has an allotment of $1.336 million. This programme funds the
operation of both the Alternative Education Pr ogramme and the two new Success Academies, which
were established in 2016. They support at -risk st udents and students with trauma in their lives. My
ques tion, again, is how many students do we hav e at
each of the two Success Academies? I know that in
2016, we had 59 students. In 2017, we had 15 st udents. How many students do we have in 2019?
Then, my other question is, you know, we try
to re- integrate these students into regular schools and
regular classrooms. What is the success rate for the
re-integration into the regular classroom? How many


Bermuda House of Assembly students in 2018/19 were re- integrated back into the
regular classrooms?
And another thing, when I was reading this I
thought, Is there a recidivism rate in this space? Do
you take students out when you think they are ready?
And at some point, do you have to put them back in
because they were not quite ready? And so, is that an
issue for this school? Do we see a recidivism rate for
our students who pass through the Success Academies for the alternative education?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Now, I will move on
to programme 1703, Finance and Corporate.
As the Minister said, “1Under the direction of
the comptroller, this office coordinates the payment of
salaries for approximately 1,130 educators and department staff . . .,” suppliers and vendors, et cetera.
They are doing a respectable job. The only question I have is [about] the Office Accommodation. The Mini ster indicated that Headquarters moved from Southside
to Church Street. And this is business unit 27003, Mr.
Chairman.

[Inaudible interjection]

Just getting up, were you?
So, my question is, can the Minister quantify
the total cost of the transfer from Southside to Church
Street? The Minister indicated that $176,000 in the
budget was attributed to rental increase. What was
the rent at Southside, and what is the current rent being paid in Hamilton? And at this point, Mr. Chairman,
I would like to know whether the—

My question is, What was the
cost to transfer offices from Southside to Hamilton?
What was the rent that you paid at Southside,
and what is the rent that you are currently paying at
Hamilton? I f you had stated it in the brief, I would have
known there was $100,000 less . But you chose not to
provide those details.

Gentlemen, can you speak to the
Chair, please.


1 Official Hansard Report 9 March 2018, page 1564 Mr. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay.
Educational Stores, business unit 27040.
There was an allotment of $790,000. The Educational
Stores supports salaries of stores managers, stor ekeepers, drivers, labo urers, and the clean- up. The
stores provide centralised purchasing inventory man-agement, distribution services to all public schools
and Bermuda College, and other government depar tments such as the Ministry of Youth and Sport. In ac-cordance with the 2002 Strategic Plan, the Minister
said there that he was going to perform and conduct an operational effectiveness and efficiency review of
this department. I heard that it was completed, from
his brief. What were the general findings? And when
will the implementation take place?
Again, I said we need to address reimbursing
teachers for out -of-pocket [expenses] that they accrue
to provide supplies for their students and their clas srooms. The Minister chided me when I was Minister,
on and on and on, on this topic. And funny enough,
now that he is in the seat, he has the same problem. I would have thought that he would have had it addressed b y now. But it has not been addressed.

I am now moving on to bus iness unit 27042, Buildings, Grounds and Equipment.
This allotment funds the salary of the Facilities Ma nager. The remainder of the budget covers the cost of
repairs and maintenance of facilities at all educational and administrative sites that fall under the Department of Education.
Mr. Chairman, last year, we funded a position
for a second person to support the gentleman who
had worked in this department. And this second per-son was to support the Facilities Manager. I looked in
today’s budget. I see that we are back to one person.
So, I am led to believe either that person came and left, or we never hired the second person. Again, I am
raising this because in 2018, we said we will do one
thing, and in 2019, the thing that we said we were go-ing to do in 2018, we are reversing in 2019. So, again,
how can I place credence on the deliverable?
So, Mr. Chairman, as yo u know, we have
about 30 schools in this country. And you also will
note that it is almost impossible for one facilities manager to do a decent job in managing our school campuses. He, Mr. Chairman, will be stretched too far,
and he will be set up to fail. We need more bodies to
support this gentleman. I understand he has had
some difficult times. He has been pulled this way and
pulled that way. And he is not a happy camper. So, I
think we need to give him the support that he needs
and take a real good look at this department to ensure
that we provide the number of resources that are
needed to ensure that our plants are safe and healthy.
778 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The other thing I would like to mention is that
we have said a lot about mould, historically. Again,
this falls into this area. And I heard the Minister of
Works and Engineering talk about his plans. And I have no doubt that he would do his best to get there.
But I would like to also say that there are
some healthy classroom programmes that need to be
implemented that can be directed by the facilities
team and the staff at the Ministry, simple protocols like
opening windows during the day for the circulation in
the classroom —just simple, simple housekeeping pr otocols that will help to mitigate the risk of mould and
bad circu lation in our schools. Just a simple recommendation for simple things that can basically address
more challenging problems.
IT Support. This is [programme] 1703, line
item 27050, which shows an allotment of $2.55 mi llion. The Minister indicated that he has the Wi -Fi in
the primary schools installed and broadband in other
schools. I commend him. I know that the Department
Manager basically has to address over 90 servers and 25 apps across the 33 school locations. And it is a
monumental task. And in addition, the team has to
support 13,000 users. So, Mr. Chairman, again it
speaks to what we spoke to last week in the House.
One of the issues that keeps coming to my mind is a
cyberattack.
And the Minister of National Security indicated
that there will be protocols in place to support depar tments from cyberattacks. And I was wondering if the
Minister of Education would provide additional financial support to this IT team so that they can mitigate
some of the cyberattack risks that are prevalent in businesses today?
The other issue that I would like to have addressed is the PowerSchool systems. When I went to
the meeting at Whitney for the standards -based grading, a number of the parents and the facilitators ind icated that they were having problems loading data i n
the PowerSchool system. Has this problem been r esolved? Is the PowerSchool system up and running? I mean, surely, this should have been an integral part of
the standards -based grading implementation plan, as
this is the key medium that would link the standards -
based grading report with our parents, students and teachers.
So, it is vital that we have this corrected, remedied, ASAP, and ensure that we are on top of it. So,
if the Minister could give a status report as to whether
the challenges that we face with the PowerSchool
system have been resolved as they pertain the
Standards -Based Grading Initiative?
Preschools. That is programme 1704. I do not
have much here. I just have, How many students? I
know that in 2017/18, we had 328 students. The Mi nister did not share with us the number of students we
have for 2019/20. I just want to see the numbers. Is there a decline in this student population? Or is there
an escalation of the number of students into our pr e-schools? Right now, we are saying that we are bas ically allotting 10 students per class, and hence the 33 classes last year. In addition, there are the SEE -KS
training. This gets some update on the SEE -KS trai ning.

S-E-I-K [sic].
Okay. The other issue, I think I touched on
this earlier on the Inquiring Minds Framework. Has the
training programme been cascaded down to all of the
teachers? I think we addressed this already, so I will
pass on.
Now we move on to Primary Schools. That is
[programme] 1705, line item . . . well, all of the primary
schools. (Please bear with me for a second, Mr.
Chairman.)

[Pause]

Right. Primary Schools, on
page 146. The total allotment is $30,073,000, down
1 per cent. Mr. Chairman, al l 18 primary schools
should have school improvement plans that the parents, guardians, community partners and the general
public have access to. Have these three- year deve lopment plans been made available and accessible to
the community and the stakeholder s? Again, are they
all finished for the primary schools? If they are not
finished, when does the Minister or the Commissioner
expect for the school improvement plans for the 18 primary schools to be completed? And when will they
be made available to the public, as stated in the narr ative?
The other question is, What progress are we
making with the implementation of the STEAM [sc ience, technology, engineering, art and mathematics]
education in our primary schools? I know that is the initiative that a lot of energy was spent on integrating
into our primary school system. The Minister did not
say much about it in his brief, so I wonder if he can
give me an update on the implementation of the
STEAM initiatives in primary education? And how
does that dovetail w ith the curriculum?
Programme 1706, Dame Marjorie Bean [Hope
Academy], line item 27120. Dame Marjorie Bean
Hope Academy provides services to students from the
age of four to eighteen years old who have severe to
profound multiple challenges. In 2017/18, t here were
19 students enrolled at the school, although there is a
maximum of 24 students. How many students do we
have today? And how many teachers do we have to
support them? I think we have the teacher numbers,
so do not worry about the teachers. How man y students do we have? And how often do we meet with the parents of those students? I note that we increased the staff complement
from six to eight employees, can the Minister tell us,


Bermuda House of Assembly what will be the mandate for the two additional employees?
Now, I mov e on to the Middle Schools. I
smiled when the Minister spoke about the “ transitio ning plan ” for the middle schools to signature schools.
And I said to myself, If he can do the analytics and
take a measured approach to the transition from mi ddle school, the n why could he have not done that in
the very beginning and tell the people why he was transferring from middle schools to signature schools, in a measured way? Because all of the academic pr ofessionals say, We’re not saying no. Just give me the
evidence. Give me the evidence that this is best for
our students.
But, no. The PLP took the position that, This
is what we are doing, and we are not responding to the community. When professionals locally, professionals with 30 years of teaching experience said , It
makes no sense to make a monumental decision like
closing the middle schools, without proper support,
without evidence.
So, again, I just smile when I see that we are
taking a measured approach through the transition. I suspect that it is because of our new Commissioner of
Education. Because she is a numbers person—
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order.
[Laughter]

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.
The Shadow Minister is intentionally misleading the House. He would know that I announced the
transition away from middle schools last summer in a
three- part plan of how that will happen.
What I announced is that we are passing into
the second part of that three- part plan. He would know
that, or he should know that.

[Ms. Susan E. Jackson, Chairman]

Indeed, I will.
So, I am not going to harp much on the trans ition because, at the end of the day, a lot has been
said in the public domain about middle schools. And the Minister knows, quite frankly, where most of Bermuda stands on this issue.
So, it is just that he has to listen to the community —

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of clarification.

Now, I would like to move on
to . . . while on middle schools, there is another sens itive issue t hat needs to be addressed. This sensitive
issue has to do with a transition from an “aided” mi ddle school to a “maintained” middle school. And why do I raise this issue, Madam Chairman? I raise this
issue because one of our middle schools no longer
qualified to be an aided middle school, because its campus is fully owned by the government. So, the
question that I have —

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order.

Obviously, the Minister is not
listening. What I said was that there was an aided school whose property was owned by trustees and
was recently purchased by the government. And so,
as a consequence, it qualifies as a maintained school.
So, my question is, given that it is a new day and that in the past, there were a number of aided schools,
because there were m any benefactors in the comm unity who provided support and funding for the development of education in this country, today it is not
happening. And I feel concerned that other aided
schools may fall into this category.
So, I would like to know whether the Minister
or the Commissioner of Education has a transitional
780 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly template that can be used and applied when schools
are transferred from [being] an aided school to a
maintained school? And for those aided schools that
basically depend on the government for muc h of their
financing, will the Government encourage them to embark upon more fundraising campaigns so that
they can be more self -sufficient, as well?
You know, I agree that the Government
should help them. But, as the label says, it is an aided school. A n aided school does not mean that 100 per
cent of the financing comes from government. I suspect that we should see what can be done to encourage our aided schools to do more fundraising, to be a
bit more self -sufficient.

Curriculum Assessment,
1709, page 147. The total allotment was $2.555 mi llion. This cost centre funds the Cambridge Inter national Curriculum, related initiatives, salaries for educational officers for the curriculum and assessment, and the Career Pathways Programme. This depar tment pays an annual fee to Cambridge International for the curriculum and for students to sit the a nnual
Checkpoint and the IGCSE examinations.
My questions are these: How much do we pay
annually for the Cambridge International licence? How much have we paid over the past eight years, in total,
for the Cambridge International licence? The other
questi on that I have is that we will have the educ ational officers in place . . . no, I will pass on those
questions. I will pass on this. So, those are my two
questions on the curriculum assessment. How much
have we paid for the Cambridge International licences
each year and how much have we paid for eight
years, and how much are we committed to for 2019,
given that we have the Strategic Plan 2022? Cost centre 1709, [business unit] 27020, A ssessment and Evaluation. Well, we have done that already. I will contin ue. My questions on that section
are, Where do we stand with the Cambridge Mathe-matics Professional Development Officer Training for our teachers and students? When will the training for
the Mathematics Professional Development Officer be
completed? And when will he [be in a] position to i mplement some of the recommendations that he has
learned through the training programme so that we
can enhance the results of our students and make our teachers more proficient in teaching mathematics?
So, those are my onl y questions on that.
Early Childhood Education and Career Pat hways , 27524. The total allotment for that was $1.945
[million], a $40,000 increase. I have to admit, as I said
earlier when I opened my comments, I will give the Minister and his team some kudos for being disc iplined in financially managing the department this
year. I have to give you [credit] and be honest and say, as I see it.
Early College and Career Pathways, cost centre 27524, funds the salaries of two Career Pathway
programme coordinators and the cost of student
transport and educational certifications. The coordinators administer the programme at both senior schools.
The structure of the programmes allows students to
select and focus on one of five categories of career pathways consisting of art, athletics, communications,
applied technology, business and hospitality, and
health and human services.
How many teachers have been allotted to be
trained this year in regard to the STEM pedagogy,
given that it is going to form an integral part of our curriculum this year? I know that there are issues in r egards to training in robotics, drones and other hightech instruments and equipment. So, again, this takes
special skill. And how many teachers have we ident ified to take training, and when will the training be
completed? Last year, there were 18 identified. What is it for this year? And when will they be in place to
basically progress the STEM curriculum in our middle
and senior schools?
The other question is, Can the Minister pr ovide details w ith any placement programmes that
these students may have with the private sector? And
if he could provide just a brief summary on the inter nship programme that we have in place with industry
and the private sector when it comes to STEM curric ula and STEM students?
Now, I would like to move on to line number
27700, After School Care. That is on page 147, and
that is 2008. We have allotted $208,000. Now, I raised
this issue last year, and will raise it again this year.
We have after school programmes at Dev onshire Pr eschool, Prospect, Victor Scott, Warwick and Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy. My question is, Are we
going to make similar schools available in St.
George’s or Somerset? What happens to those st uBermuda House of Assembly dents who live at either end of the Island? This is a
question I asked last year.
Subjective Analysis, I just have two issues on
Subjective Analysis. We spoke to travel costs. They
went up 66 per cent, from $65,000 to $108,000. The
Minister said it was a reallocation. Can he provide
more details on this reallocation? Because, quite
frankly, I did not get an answer in regard to the justif ication for this 66 per cent increase. I know that we
had professional development training. But I am not
going to assume anything. So, can the Minister pr ovide how this r eallocation caused the increase of travel to exceed 65 per cent? That is on page B -148. We
have addressed the rental costs, so that is fine.
So, [Madam] Chairman, that brings to a co nclusion Heads 16 and 17.
What I am going to do now is move away from
tradition and move to Head 41, and I will do Head 18
last. First of all, I would like to commend the work that
is being done at Bermuda College, commend the
board that they have, and commend Dr. Greene for keeping the College on the cutting edge. And one
thing I find very positive when I attend the College, for
whatever reason, be it professional or to a graduation,
is that the College always has a good spirit. There is a
good feel when you go to the College. You can see
that most of the students are very pos itive, and they
feel positive about being there. And to me, that sets
the tone for success.
So, Dr. Greene, whatever you are doing, keep
up the good work. Because that positive spirit goes a long way to academic success.
I would like to also commend the new chai rman, Peter Sousa, and his team. I worked with him in a professional capacity, and I think he does a sterling
job in directing and providing leadership and guidance
to the board.
Now, we spoke a lot about scholarships, earlier. And the Minister said that last year they issued
198 student awards.

Both scholarships and
awards. What percentage of our student population is
on scholarships and awards? Because that would determine how much further we have to go if we are tr ying to make it more affordable to more people.
I am delighted that we have more students in
the dual enrolment programme, 19 students, again,
public schools. I think we should make this available
to all schools, because it is a wonderful programme. And it just bodes well for the c areers of those young
high school students who can say, I graduated from college before I graduated from high school. That is
amazing, absolutely amazing. So, I would encourage
the public/private schools to get on board to encour-age their students to get i nvolved in our dual enro lment programme, because it is world class and it pr ovides students with access to a wonderful education and career experience.
[In] a previous brief that I have seen, the College said that it had put a stronger emphasis on i ncreasing male enrolment during the academic year,
with several initiatives. Can the Minister give us a brief
on the trends in regard to male enrolment? What percentage of the school population was male in 2018?
What percentage is expected in 2019? Are we c apturing more and more males in the programmes? Now, I
am asking this because the College made a commi tment that they were placing more emphasis on i ncreasing male enrolment. And I know we can do it
through the academic programmes, the applied tec hnology programme and other initiatives that are in
place, and even the dual enrolment programmes.
So, again I would like to, just for my edific ation, get a response to that. Because I think our males, again, are getting a bad rap. A lot of males in
Bermuda are doing great things. But they are being scarred by the actions of a very, very few. And I will stand up for our young males as best as I can and as
often as I can.
I know the Bermuda College has a robust articulation programme, with other schools. The questions that I ask are, have we answered any new articulation programme in 2018/19, and how many do
we have in the pipeline for 2019/20? Again, what new
affiliation programmes do we have on the horizon, and
what programmes will be offered as a result of these
new affiliation programmes?
Last year, the College made a commitment to
upgrade the classrooms and computer labs. Can the
Minister provide an update? And what plans do they
have in regards to 2019/20? What will their priorities
be for this coming year? As I said, last year they made
a commitment to upgrade classrooms and the com-puter labs. So, what are their commitment and prior ities for 2019?
In addition, the College indicated that they
would streamline their fee structure to bring it in line with best practices. Has this been completed? And will
the Minister share with us the new fee structure and
how it has been brought in line with best practices? How has it been made simpler for the parents to u nderstand, and how is it easier to administer at the College?
We spoke about the strategic plan, and I applaud the Minister and the President for the strategic plan. And I was sitting here, and I was wondering, yes, we have a strategic plan. But no one has shared
with the House or the community what the vision is for
782 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the strategic plan. What is the top- line vision for the
strategic plan? What are the short -term priorities and
objectives for the strategic plan? Can the Minister
share that with us? I am sure that, with the players at
the College, the plan will be successful and effective.
But, just give us some more information that we can
go on with to support it, going forward. In the event we
are asked [about it] ourselves.
The Minister also touched upon the Regulat ory Compliance Programme. He said that $45,000 is
committed to that. This plan was a continuation from
last year. I know that we had, I think, 45 people e nrolled last year (I think it was 45). How many do we
expect, or how many are currently enrolled? And how
many have graduated? And how many are work ing in
industry? Do we track this information to assess the
success of the programme?

[Pause]

Okay. The other thing that I
find interesting is that the College provides financial
aid. And they have been doing it for a while. Last year,
I think they gave $50,000. I think with all of the grants, scholarships, financial help that is provided by go vernment, and the private sector, what gap exists that
will encourage the Bermuda College to also provide financial aid, given that we have made a commitment
for millions of dollars to provide financial aid? I am talking about, last year we had $50,000. So, the questions are, Are we doing it this year, as well? And if so,
what gaps are they filling that are not filled by other
scholarships or other financial support to the st udents?

[Pause]

I know that the College also
is an accredited testing and assessment centre. And I
think there is a great opportunity for them to increase
or boost their revenue, because there is a need for a
responsible testing and assessment centre that meets
its national criteria. I know that the centre can be used for accounting exams, IoD exams , insurance exams.
And I think we can do a better job in marketing this service. Because it is a niche that is needed. And I
think that the College can capitalise on this service a
bit more. And I think, in fact, they may even get su pport from professional organisations in regard to this space. Because, basically, a lot of these professional
organisations do not have examination centres,
whereas you have an accredited one. And this just
helps make their lives easier. So, I think this is an untapped resource that the Bermuda College can capitalise on.
While I am talking about that, I just reme mbered somethi ng. The issue of alliances with professional credentialing and accrediting agencies . . . I
know that in 2018/19, you had associated with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the
Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, City & Guilds,
and Building Owners and Managers International. Do
we have any more alliances in the [pipeline] in this
professional credentialing and accreditation space? Do you envision our having more of those types of
qualifications, going forward, in 2019/20?
I know that, shifting gears, still on the College,
the campus basically installed campus -wide energy
and management systems. I know that the Coco Reef
was connected to and possibly still is connected to the energy system that is in place for the College. Can the
Minis ter tell me what reimbursement, the amount that
was reimbursed by Coco Reef to the College for energy for this year?
As I said, we touched upon the strategic plan,
and I asked about the vision. Obviously, if we have a new plan, we have a new vision. Can t he Minister give
us some insight on what the rebranding might look
like? Because the rebranding will dovetail with the
vision and priorities.
So, if he can share with the community what
the rebrand will be like? Will we be moving from, what, a community c ollege to an international college, or a
university? I do not know. And so, we are going
through the rebranding programme. Can the Minister
give us some insight as to what the rebranding may
look like, going forward? Because I think that would be interesti ng for the community.
[Madam] Chairman, that brings an end to my
contribution on the Bermuda College, on page B -158.

[Pause]

Libraries and Archives. As a
custodian of our distant past and our recent history,
the Libraries and Arc hives of Bermuda are a key r esource for all Bermudians who wish to gain a better
understanding of who they are individually and collec-tively. Indeed, this demonstrates the crucial role that
the libraries and archives play in Bermuda’s social
fibre. I just have few questions on this. The Minister
touched upon it. Can the Minister give us an update
on the digitisation strategy? I know he touched upon
it, but he did not say what had been achieved in 2018 and what we plan to achieve—some measurable
benchmarks t hat we can hold each other accountable
to. So, if he could provide details on what was
achieved in 2018 and what we are going to achieve in
2019 in regard to the digitisation strategy for the department? The other interesting thing that I thought I
might ask, in regard to the [business unit] 28000, Collection Management. Do we have a strategy in place for the Talking Book Programme? Do we have a collection of talking books? How accessible is it to the
physically impaired —i.e., those with vision impai rment? And do we have books in place for those who
are hearing impaired? So, that is one question that I


Bermuda House of Assembly have. I know last year, we had challenges with mould
remediation. The questions are, Has this been a ddressed, and do we have an ongoing plan for mould
remedi ation in the library and the archives?
Now, I understand and I know that in 2018,
we merged archives with the libraries. And my ques-tions are: How old is the archival management sy stem? When was it last updated? And could the Mini ster provide more details in how the archival manag ement system was integrated into the library system in
2018? What roadmap do we follow? What quality as-surance did we follow? And what assurance did we
have to ensure that the integrity of the data was transferred? And I am concer ned because the archives
have so much rich and important history and data ,
because, as you know, data are very important today.
And it is important that any information that we are
archiving , be it in electronic format or hard copy, that
information should be protected and stored in a s ecure manner.
Now, there was one other thing, and then I
would be done.

[Pause]

Oh. I know that the Parli ament is going through some changes. And our library
system is challenged at this point. And I want to know
whether the Parliamentary Library and the Parliamen-tary Archives will be something that could be consi dered for management under the library and its team. I
think there is a role for it. And I think it would be best
that we have our archives in one space. And the Par-liamentary Library is in desperate need of help. And I
was wondering if the Ministry could lend support to
Parliament to ensure that something of that nature
happens.
And with those remarks, I bring my contributions to a conclus ion. Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Member.
Is there anyone else who would like to speak?
The Member from constituency 12, the Honourable Craig Cannonier, Opposition Leader.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
I was just on page B -145, under 27160, Su bstitutes. I recognise, and the Honourable Member did
say that he had, under 27079, Paraprofessionals, i ncluded in there substitutes, substitute teachers. So, I can see, well, it is a $1,000 difference there. But I can see where the difference is weighed out. But what I do
recognise is that under 27160 there is still allocated
$639,000. What is the difference between those substitutes and the substitutes that we have included u nder 27079, Paraprofessionals? I am just try ing to u nderstand that.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: It is not the same thing?
Okay, yes. I was just curious. And if it is not
the same thing, then how many substitutes then are
we talking about who have been moved into the
parapr ofessional area? If he could qualify that, I would
appreciate it. I just did not understand quite clearly.
There were not any explanatory remarks to that.
Also, I did not know. There was a lot of talk
before, I did not hear in the brief, about Internet cov-erage. And I did not know if it fit under IT support or
not—maybe not. If whether or not under IT support
where there is a slight increase, whether that was i ncluding to ensure that all of the schools are adequat ely covered. I know that we were covering t he schools ,
but whether or not they are adequately covered.
Also, over on, I believe the Honourable Member Cole Simons may have answered my question,
but under performance measures, B -151, where it
says, “percentage of students who graduate with one
or more industry recognised credentials.” I was just
curious as to whether we could get all of those cr edentials listed out as to what they are so that the public is aware of what those are.
And there was one other thing that I wanted to
ask, and that was ov er on page B -153 under performance measures. If you look at preschools and prim ary schools, there is a lot of talk there about performance measures and ensuring that our students stay
within the school system, graduating, moving through
to the next class, percentages of that. But I did run into two sets of parents whose kids were out -
performing the class that they had been in. And they had actually been put ahead a class. But even after
putting them ahead of the class, they were still at the
tops of the classes that they were put ahead in.
And I was not quite sure. It might be nice to
be able to identify some of these students who are
out-performing in the school system. But there is not hing that described exactly what happens to these st udents, how we are pushing them along. We do know
that, eventually when they reach the high school level,
that they wind up getting into programmes with the
College. But at the preschool and primary levels, we are identifying these kids. But I am not sure exactly
what programmes we have that are catering to these
kids so that we can move them along, as well. There
was one particular parent who was a bit frustrated,
trying to understand what else could be done.
So, those are the few questions that I had.

Thank you, Member.
Would anyone else wish to speak?
The Chair recognises the Member from constituency 19, Jeanne Atherden.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
784 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I have just a few questions. The first one r elates to, and it is on page B -149, and it goes from
[pages] B -149 to B -150. There is an indication that, in
2017/18, we had 1,116 full -time equivalents. And
then, in 2018/19, we were up to 1,126. And then, in
2019/20, we are down to only six heads.
And I guess I would like to ask the question
that I know that Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda want to know, because this whole question of full -time equivalents
and how many bums are on seats is an issue that keeps coming up, because when you start having things that come up during the year and someone
says, Oh, well, we didn’t have enough manpower. P ositions were unfilled, my question to the Minister is,
You said that your budget for 2019/20 [has] six fewer
people. How many bums are not on seats right now?
Which means that you do not have people there to fill
these programmes . Because I realise that it impacts
on the number of . . . whether it be the number of
teachers in the school or the number of paraprofes-sionals, if the bums are not on seats, then you are not able to deliver on the programmes.
My second question relates to the whole thing
of the STEM education. And the Minister was talking
about what we were doing with respect to education
and what we were doing in terms of challenging our
students. And there was an indication that you were getting student s at sort of like the middle school area
age and that they were starting to be exposed to what
I call the STEM education. And I just wondered
whether the Minister is aware that there is now a new
study out which is indicating that maybe that was too
late. So, I am wondering whether there is any consi deration being given at the primary level as to whether
there is any indication that we would start to teach
[STEM] at that level.
And I say that because they were talking
about girls. They were talking about t he number of
girls who were starting to get involved in the computer
areas. And they were finding that, by the time girls got
exposed to computers, et cetera, they had already
turned their minds off or they had already changed.
So, it then ties into this w hole thing of our education
and what we are doing with respect to the pr ogrammes.
And I think that the only other question I had
related to this whole issue of performance standards.
And I am asking this because, in the Budget Stat ement, there was a clear indication that more money
was going to be spent on, they were indicating, autism. And so, I just wanted to understand. And I say
this because I have said right from the get -go that,
when I look at programmes, I go and look in the
Budget Book for standards. So, I went to look into the
Budget Book to see whether there were any performance standards with respect to that, and I could not find any performance standards. So, I just wondered,
what performance standards are going to be impl emented for the new programme that you are going to put into place for those people who are going to be
teaching the autism, learning the autism education?
So, I just wondered.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you.
Would anyone else like to speak to the
heads?
All right. We are debating the heads under
Education, Heads 16, 17, 18, 19 and 41.
With no other speakers, Minister, would you
like to take the floor?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
There have been quite a few questions. I think
I want to start with the last speaker first because,
Madam Chairman, I take education very, very seriously in Bermuda. And by taking education seriously, that
means you have to . . . we cannot just come up here
and just talk because that is something to do.
And I refer to a few questions that the last
speaker just spoke to. I want to draw her attention
back to last year, June, when I made a Ministerial
Statement in this House, detailing the STEAM Educ ation Programme in primary schools that had been [ongoing], that had been ongoing for a year, a pilot pr ogramme already at that point, and we were impl ement ing it in eight more schools in September 2018,
and we would be in eight more schools in September
2019. So, I hope that answered the question that she
asked of, What are we doing with STEAM education at the primary school level?
I also want to draw a reference to the stat ement about FTEs [full -time equivalents] that was mentioned in the Budget Statement that I gave earlier t oday, and I gave an explanation of —

Minister, if you would not mind.
Member.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I believe that the Minister
is misleading the House. I did not indicate. I asked
you whether, based on the fact that there is now an
indicati on that perhaps at the middle school . . . at the
primary school it is too late, whether this was som ething that was going to be considered with respect to
getting more girls into what I call the computers and sciences.

Thank you, Member.
Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.


Bermuda House of Assembly I am sure that, when we receive the Hansard
later this week, we will hear that Honourable Member
say, middle school, and what are we doing to start it
earlier in the primary school level? But we will move
on from that, because it is being done and the question is answered. STEAM education is present within
our primary schools, and it will continue to be within
our primary schools.
The second question was asked about FTEs.
In the Budget Statement, it was also explained about
the FTEs decreasing from 1,126 to 1,120. So, that was already answered within the Budget Statement,
the Budget Statement that I gave earlier.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Point of clarification.

Point of clarific ation.
Minister, thank you.
All right.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Because there has always
been a concern about the number of people who are
actually in there, I was asking the Minister whether he
could clarify for the people of Bermuda how many
people are physically in the school, in the system? Because whenever you get into this whole issue of
full-time equivalents, there is always a question that
comes up later as to whether people are actually there
or whether the book says that you have this number of
heads. But when you go and look into a programme,
you actually find that, instead of 16 people in the ac-tual building, you only have 12. And that means that
you have six fewer people to carry out the pr ogramme.
So, could the Minis ter ask his technical offi cers how many full -time equivalents are not matched
by bums on seats?

Thank you, Member.
Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
And I will get that complete answer. But, from
the Budget Book, I think it is clear for us to . . . I need
to make it clear to the public, as the Honourable
Member said, that all 1,120 of those people are ensuring that education is delivered at the highest quality.
So, whether they are exactly in the schools or the y are
at the Department of Education, they are all part of the
same mechanism to deliver education.
So, Madam Chairman, I would just like to answer some of the questions that were [asked]. Ques-tion, what happened to CDP [Child Development Pr ogramme]? The justification for removing CDP was
shared with the community in a Ministerial Statement in the House last year. Some of those Members went to the Department of Education. Some of them went
to the Department of Workforce Development. As
Workforce Development was moved to another Mini stry, the persons who were within that department stayed with Workforce Development.
Has the Minister considered organisational
structure of the Ministry to align with Plan 2022? As
the former Minister would know, the Ministry H eadquarters is not responsible for Plan 2022. It is the E ducation Department’s responsibility. But I will let him
know that there is an organisational review, as rec-ommended by Plan 2022, which is taking place. And I
do believe it started when he was the M inister, but I
could be corrected.
Has the leadership training plan [been] put in
place for the Commissioner of Education and the
Permanent Secretary? The question is —so you are
assuming that there is no leadership training and development programme that they are currently involved
in. And the answer to that question would be no. You
have assumed wrong. They are always looking to u pgrade their skill set.

Thank you, Member.
Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: And the answer is yes.
Madam Chairman, again, speaking to the
question about aligning the organisational structure
with Plan 2022, I just want to reiterate to the listening
public and to Members opposite, the Ministry of E ducation is responsible for the operations of the Depar tment of Education, the Department of Libraries and Archives, and the Bermuda College. The Department
of Education is responsible for the delivery of educ ation—i.e., Plan 2022.
Next question. What are the expectations for
Plan 2022? Answer: Continue with the execution of
strategies of Plan 2022 that will extend across all five
priority areas. In my budget brief, I mentioned that we
are in the process of producing an annual report on
the progress of Pla n 2022, and that will outline to the
public at large, and including Members of this House when I table it here, what has happened between the start and the year on from where we are.
786 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Next question was, How many are in the mentoring programme? In the teachers’ mentoring pr ogramme, the answer is 31. How long are they in the
programme? Three years. Are mentors trained to
meet international best practice standards for mentor teachers? The answer is yes. Mentors participate in
overseas professional development.
Question: How many times have the Parental
Involvement Committee met? Answer: The Parental involvement Committee meets once a month with the
Commissioner of Education. The committee receives updates on Plan 2022 and discusses matters pertai ning to curric ulum, instruction, assessment and other
matters concerning parents. The committee is also currently working on a newsletter which will be used as a communication tool for the public.
How much is allotted each year for standards -
based grading? In 2019/20, we will allocate $430,000.
In 2020/21, we have a rough estimate of $360,000.
SCARS [Saving Children And Revealing S ecrets ] training should be required for all teachers. It is
mandated for all teachers.
Succession planning. What succession pla nning framew ork is made up for the senior team? Will
this be made public? (Okay. I am sorry. That is on
another piece of paper.)
Ah, here we go, Succession Planning. [The]
succession planning, policy and framework is in place, and they have been shared with staff. The MOE [Mi nistry of Education] succession planning work is structured in three organisation levels: executive and head
of the department; senior manager and senior professionals; and middle managers, technical and profes-sionals.
How many students have IEPs [individualised
education programme], special needs? Sevenhundred and six are on IEPs. How often do schools
meet with parents? Parents are involved in the IEP
process throughout the year, and schools aim to meet
with them at least once per quarter. How m any st udents are serviced by educational therapists? Educ ational therapists support students with tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 behaviours —that is, from mild to severe behaviours. Thirty -four students are currently on behaviour
intervention plans.
The Quality Assurance Officer is scheduled to
be in place in September 2019. The Quality Assurance Officer works in collaboration with the Depar tment of Health to provide support and guidance for
private preschools and childhood facilities.
What curricular, academic and social are being taught at the preschool level? And give an over-view of each. (I am sorry. That was not a question.)
What professional development has been
provided for preschool teachers and leaders? One, the Social Emotional Engagement -Knowledge an d
Skills (or SEE -KS); the MTS, multi -tiered system of
support; First Aid, CPR, and SCARS; Creative Curri culum and Teaching Strategies GOLD; and training on implementing GOLD in MyTeachingStrategies; and
training through community partnerships with deepening knowledge and skills of teachers in the area of
brain development, creative minds, flexible mind- set,
mode to development and inquiry -based teaching and
learning.
There was a question asked about the Facil ities Department. And, yes, there was funding pr ovided
for an additional person within Facilities. However,
with efficiencies introduced, which have resulted in
better reporting and addressing of school repairs and the hiring of a new Facilities manager, he seems to
have everything under control as is.
Rent was asked about. As shown in the
Budget Book on page C -25, rent at Southside was
$410,558. Rent for the City of Hamilton is $307,365, a
difference of just over $100,000.
Question: How many counsellors complete
the global training for the Officer Cer tification Pr ogramme? Answer: Berkeley Institute has five counse llors who have completed the programme and utilised the information during informational planning meetings with students and their parents. CedarBridge has one
counsellor who has completed the training and three
who are nearing training.
You asked for a few numbers. Here we go.
The number of students receiving Adaptive PE is 87.
The number of visually impaired students, 13. The number of hearing impaired students, 8. The number
of students at Success Academy in Devonshire, 10.
The number of students at Success Academy, Heron
Bay, 6. The number of students in Primary ASD, 18; middle ASD, 5; senior ASD, 3. And I will give you
some extra information. The number of students in
functional programmes at the primary level, 3; the
middle school functional programme, 13; and at senior, 11. The number of students in alternative pr ogrammes other than Success Academy is 15.
Professional development provided during the
2018/19 school year. We had learning support teac hers, at October, professional development with offi cers. Paraprofessionals had behaviour learning with
officers and ETs (educational therapists), TCI and
Webinars, which is trauma checklist indicator. Educ ational therapist assistants, behaviour training with officers. Devonshire Success Academy, TCI training in September; Success Academy, Heron Bay, TCI trai ning in September. MTSS [multi -tiered system of supports] coaches, monthly with system MTSS coaches within the schools. Learning support of ficers, accor ding to JFP CCE Conference school psychologists,
JFP and NASP [National Association of School Ps ychologists] Conferences; and educational officer, JFP;
educational officer behaviour, Webinars and AD st udent services, CEC Conference and leaders hip conferences.
Is the ASD classroom at Dame set up? The
reply is, Not yet.


Bermuda House of Assembly There was a question about school enrolment.
Current school enrolment at the preschool level is
315, and projected enrolment in September 2019 is
251.
Just some more updates on the STEAM ed ucation. Who is leading the STEAM initiative? The GATE [gifted and talented education] Officer is leading the STEAM initiative as the technical officer. A ssisting with this initiative are the Education Officer for
the Arts and Information Technology Facilities and
information technology managers, and the Director of Academics.
The STEAM office will be responsible for all
STEAM programme functions, as the current impl ementation management is not part of the GATE [Ed ucation] Officer’s remit or d escription.
The total number of primary schools currently
implementing STEAM is seven primary schools.
Those seven schools are Dalton E. Tucker, Gilbert
Institute, Northlands Primary, Paget Primary, Prospect
Primary, Purvis Primary, and Victor Scott Primary. And as I mentioned previously, there will be eight
more schools coming on board in September. The
total number of middle schools implementing STEAM
are Clearwater Middle School, Sandys Secondary
Middle School, and Dellwood Middle School.
And, lastly, professional development offered
to STEAM during STEAM education, which includes summer professional development offerings, is i mplementing the EiE [Engineering is Elementary] curriculum, which is the curriculum used in the primary
schools; the EiE Teacher Institute; and the EiE preparation for implementation.
What caused the increase in travel funds?
The increase in travel funds is due to a reallocation
within the PD budget from local training to auxiliary
travel expenses with an emphasis on airfare and accommodations.
How much have we paid for Cambridge in the
last eight years? A total of $1.3 million.
What is in place for cybersecurity? We are
constantly scanning and updating our secure cyber defence systems, i.e., firewall and edge systems. We are in t he process of developing data classification
structures and an intrusion response strategy. Data classifications are regulatory, confidential, sensitive and public.
The question was, Is PowerSchool functio ning? The answer is yes.
The next question was, What is the progress
of research for alternative school models? The answer is, consistent with Plan 2022, we are researching a lternative education models. Specifically, we are moving away from the last -chance, or punitive, model for
behavioural problem students. We believe that alternative schools, going forward, should be positive, pr oactive and responsive to the needs of children and
family for whom traditional school just does not fit. How much is allocated for training of subs,
orientation of subs? This is in-house training done by
the HR Section. What do workshops and orientation involve? Brief system overview, research- based strategies for teaching, classroom management tec hniques. Mentors model effective strategies to engage students to maximise time in the classroom.
Updates and libraries. The update on digitis ation. The Royal Gazette microfilms have been digi tised up to 1945. For the upcoming year, we hope to
complete films up to 1950. The availability of talking books? The library has provided talking books for
many years, starting with books on tape and progres sing to books on CD. Currently, in addition to books on CD, the library provides e- audio through the library
website. These books are available to anyone with a library card.
Mould remediation. Mould remediation has
been completed in both libraries and archives. To stay
on top of this, funds have been increased in the budget for regular cleaning. We will continue to work with
the Public Works Department to maintain the buildings and reduce the num ber of leaks we experience.
Archival systems. The archives system was
last updated in 2016. The system has not been int egrated into the library systems, as this was unnecessary. And Parliamentary Library and Archives, with additional qualified staff, it is possible to bring these
units under Libraries and Archives.
One question here was, what is the number of
two- to three -year-olds screened for ASD, who have
ASD? The answer is 4 per cent.
And I believe there was one more question. A
question from the Honourable Member Cannonier was about the substitutes and the paras. Well, what was
happening in the past was that paraprofessional sal aries were being charged to the substitute budget. And so, what I have done is asked them to, please, just
move the money to t he paraprofessional budget.
There was no moving of actual persons. It
was just the funding, so that we can accurately reflect
what we are paying for paraprofessionals and what
we are paying for substitutes. I think for a number of
years up in this House, e ven when I sat on that side, it
was always this question of, Why is the substitute
budget always budgeted for one thing and going over,
year over year? As we know with substitutes, we cannot accurately predict how many substitutes are going
to happen for t he year.
And as you have seen, we just mentioned, I
think I said it was 609 students that require IEPs and the like. Those types of students have gone up. The
number of paraprofessionals that we need in the
classroom has gone up, as well. And this is why i t is
critically important for us to come up with new strat egies of addressing this type of student, so we can be
more effective and utilise the funding that we do have more strategically.
788 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly There were some questions about Bermuda
College. I will be happy to share with colleagues the
strategic plan that has been put together. That has
been released to the public. I am not quite sure why it
never made it up here. But it is something that I will happily engage to bring forward for colleagues to
have.

The Chairm an: Are there any other questions?

Yes. I wanted to thank the
Minister for his response. The answers have provided
great insight as to what is going on.
One thing that he raised that caught my attention was the Quality Assurance Of ficer for the pr eschools. I think he indicated that it would cover private schools and the public schools. So, will the Quality
Assurance Officer also put in place training pr ogrammes for private school teachers and administr ators? And will that person . . . no, no. Because you
said “ private. ” You said “ private” in your presentation.
So, I am asking the question.
So, the other concern that I have is, we have
a lot of these private preschools. And I am concerned
that the quality of the curriculum may not be where it
ought to be, or they ought to be. So, the question is,
Will the quality assurance also look at and assess the quality of the curricula for each of the private pr eschools and make recommendations in how they can be improved? Those are my questions .

Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
The easy way to answer that question is that
those policies are being looked at now in conjunction
with, not just the Ministry of Education, but also the
Ministry of Health, and with the Child and Family Services, as well. You will be pleased to know that that is well advanced, and we are working to put something
in place in the upcoming year to address exactly that
concern.
Another question that was asked by MP Cannonier is, Are we adequately covering schools with
Internet? I mentioned in the brief that we have allocat-ed nearly $600,000 (I want to say it is around that
amount) so that we can upgrade the bandwidth to all
of our schools. And that is something that is being
work ed on as we speak, and something that we hope
will be in place very, very quickly. For the listening public, unfortunately, in our schools we are saddled with 10 megabits per second going to all of our
schools. And we are looking to upgrade that to at leas t
100 to all of our schools.
But that will require a lot more than just fli pping the switch. In the brief I talked about how we are
looking to pipe in fibre to the schools so that we can
get that. What happened is that all of our schools are fed by copper wire. And they just cannot go any faster
than what it is. So, we just ask for patience as we look to get that implemented and work it out between the
providers that we have been talking to.
I just wanted to answer some questions about
Bermuda College. What percentage of school popul ation is on awards and scholarships? The answer is
25 per cent in the academic division, 15 per cent in
PACE. How many articulation agreements does Bermuda College currently have, and how many are in
the works? Bermuda College currently has 28 agree-ments that are signed, and 9 are in progress. Would
the Minister provide details on the strategic plan? I
just addressed that. And if you are technically inclined,
you can go on the website of Bermuda College, because it is posted on there, as well.
Promotion of testing centre assessment. Bermuda College is working with professional organis ations to promote the testing centre. New partnerships
have been established with the Actuary Association
and the Bermuda Hospitals Board.
Has there been improvement in male enro lment? Male enrolment has been steadily increasing, 31 per cent in 2015. This current year it is 41 per cent.
Does the College have a new fee structure, as stated
last year? Yes, the new fee structure has been
streamlined to a flat fee of $155 per credit.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes, that came in place last
fall, in the fall of 2018.
Why did Bermuda College have to provide f inancial aid of $150,000 last year? The amount was
awarded to support ful l-time students whose fees i ncreased as a result of the restructuring of fees.
Reimbursement by Coco Reef for this year. I
cannot give you the actual amount at this time, but they are paying their total electrical bill, as it is now metred. What does the rebranding look like? We are
looking at logo, tagline and colours.

Would anyone else like to speak?
The Member from constituency 19.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
Obviously, I am listening to the Minister as it
relates to all of the primary schools that are going to
be rolled out with respect to the STEAM education. So
that is very good. I am just wondering whether the Ministry tracks the number of girls who are involved in
computers. Because there has been a really r ecent
study that is indicating that girls need to get exposure
to computers earlier, so much earlier that it should
now be at the kindergarten level.
And I just wondered, recognising that there is
a belief that boys tend to be more involved, do we track t he results, and are we satisfied that rolling it out


Bermuda House of Assembly at primary level is going to get the girls involved, or
whether we have to consider this new study that says
girls should be involved in computer -type information
back at the kindergarten level?
And my last question to the Minister relates to
performance measures. And I know in the Budget
Book on page 33 we are talking about preschool level
expenditure of $327,000, implementing the Autism
Spectrum Disorder Programme. And I just wondered
whether any performance measures had been put in
place for that, because as I have said right from the get-go, I believe new programmes should have performance measures that come along with them if they
justify inclusion and reference in the Budget Book.
And I just wondere d if there were any for that pr ogramme.

Thank you, Member.
Would anyone else like to speak?
Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Madam Chairman, speaking of the ASD pr ogramme, as the Member noted, it was in the Budget
Book because it is something that is being developed.
And we are looking to implement this starting in Sep-tember. And so, all of the things that she is talking
about, ways to measure the success of it, will be built
in, like it is built in to all of our other programmes.
The other question about, do we track the
number of females and males, when we do our pr ogrammes within our schools, all of the students in the class have to join in. And so, it is not an optional pr ogramme when we are talking about at the primary level. It is the entire class. And, as we have more f emales than males at our primary school level, there are obviously going to be more females who are
grabbing hold of this than males. As they progress up
. . . I can understand the question. As they go into
senior school, where they can elect certain things that
are outside of the core subjects, that would be som ething for us to look at. And I take that under advis ement.
I also wanted to mention and make the Member aw are of an additional programme that has started
in our schools, and that is a coding programme at the primary level. It is something that, when I came in as
Minister, I was keen to implement in 2007. And with
the help of private partners, I would like to s ay thank
you to Hamilton Re for their unwavering support of this particular programme, and ConnecTech, with Coral Wells. They actually visit the schools. Every si ngle primary school gets visited every day of the week
for an hour of coding. And right now it is limited to P5
and P6. But, as we move forward, it is something that
is going to be integrated into the curriculum if I have
anything to say about it. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister.
Would anyone else like to ask questions?
Would anyone want to speak?
Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Once again, I want to thank everyone for this
robust debate. I think we all recognise how important
education is. And I do want to say thank you to Members of the opposite side, who did take this very ser iously, this particular debate, and asked . . . There
were some really, really good, probing questions that
the public did deserve to have answers for.
I do want to thank the technical staff who
came down. I see the Permanent Secretary, the
Commissioner of Education, the Department Com ptroller, and Dr. Greene from the Bermuda College.
Thank you for your support. We cannot do it without
these phenomenal people steering the ship as they
are.
And with that, Madam Chairman, I move that
Heads 16, 17, 18, 19 and 41 be approved.

It has been moved that Heads 16, 17,
18, 19 and 41 be approved.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Agreed to.
[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Ministry of Education, Heads 16,
17, 18, 19 and 41 were approved and stand part of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2019/20.]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Madam Chairman, I move
that the Committee rise and report progress, and ask
for leave to sit again to initiate the considerations of
the next heads.

It has been moved that the Commi ttee rise and report progress and ask for leave to sit
again.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Committee of Supply agreed to
rise and report progress, and sought leave to sit again on Wednesday, 6
th March 2019.]

House resumed at 5:46 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

790 4 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2019/20

Members, are there any objections to
the matters that were discussed today, the two heads
that were discussed, being reported to the House?
No objections.
So done.
That now brings us to the next order on the
Order Paper today. And the next orders are all being
carried over, I understand.
So, Deputy.

ADJOURNMENT
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I now move that we adjourn until March 6
th,
Wednesday, at 10:00 am.