00:00Bishop Annecy High School and Trinity College East will, according to the Cabinet's accepted
00:05proposal to transition to a government-assisted school, get $100 million to cover operational
00:13expenses for the academic years 2023 and 2024, which included the transition of the BATCE and
00:22sixth form schools to a government-assisted model over five years, the payment of $50 million for
00:28each of fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 to facilitate operational expenses and curriculum
00:36delivery at the schools, the submission of audited financials as a condition of the subvention
00:42and a reduced subvention being approved and paid in subsequent years as teachers gradually move
00:49under the jurisdiction of the TSC. Minister Dr Nian Gadsby-Dawley confirmed the number $25
00:56million to each school for each academic year was accurate and consistent with the payments
01:03agreed upon and which had been paid over the past 20 years of the agreement based on the school's
01:10operational budget as submitted to the ministry. Over the past week teachers have been staging
01:16silent protests over the transition as proposed. Tutor President Martin Lumpkin expresses the same
01:22concern. Tutor takes note of the fact that the negotiations between the two entities are at a
01:30complex and sensitive stage. However, we are of the opinion that the concerns of the educators,
01:40the teachers at the two institutions are not being taken into account. He says over the past decades
01:48the schools have established themselves academically as evident in CSAC and CAPE results
01:55which he described as extraordinary. Our members have grave concerns as it relates to
02:02tenure of service, salaries, pension and other related issues. These educators have given years
02:13of human service have built this institution such that the two institutions are of high demand
02:25from parents in the east-west corridor. According to the tutor president, teachers have been
02:31undergoing emotional distress over what he describes as the high level of uncertainty.
02:36To make matters worse, they are not given any information as to how that transition will take
02:44place and how they will be placed within the institution once that transition has begun.
02:54In 2000, the government entered a public-private partnership agreement with the Bishop Anesty
02:59Association for the construction and outfitting of two schools. The agreement ended in 2021,
03:06but the Education Ministry says it had been trying unsuccessfully to hammer out a new way
03:12forward with the school since 2019. When the 20-year term ended on July 31, 2021,
03:21a sub-committee of Parliament was formed to look into the matter. It submitted its report in 2023,
03:28recommending the BATCE choose one of two options to form the new management agreement.
03:36One that they continue to operate as private schools, with government paying standard rates
03:41payable for government-assisted secondary schools to the BAA for 100% of student capacity
03:48and maintaining the land and buildings. Or option two, the BATCE transition over
03:55five years to a government-assisted school model, with a reduced fee being paid to the BAA each year
04:01to reflect the lower operational cost as teachers gradually transition into the public system and
04:07are paid by the government. The discussion would also be held over this period to settle the way
04:14forward with staff outside of the organisational structure of public schools, the existing staff
04:20pension plan and other relevant considerations. The association chose option two, but the terms
04:26of the new management agreement have not yet been settled. The ministry says it,
04:31along with the association, is fully engaged in complex discussions on a monthly basis
04:37as to how this can be most seamlessly achieved.
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