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Bermuda's public education system is not meeting the needs of our children.

Nowhere is this revealed more clearly than in the 50 per cent dropout rate among young black males, identified this week in the study by U.S. academic Dr. Ronald Mincy.

In light of this appalling but not surprising finding, it is appropriate and timely for Bermuda to seriously consider an all-male school. It is time to get more aggressive.

Regardless of what the Government may announce on Friday in The Throne Speech, we believe the solution can be found here at home rather than in an imported programme, which was floated by the government today.

The reality is that education reform - arguably the most critical project affecting Bermuda's future - is moving way too slowly. This lack of real progress has major implications for our society and this week's black male study simply highlights the problem.

I want to make it very clear that we are not advocating the construction of a new school, but rather creating a new institution from what we already have. It can be done. We know there is significant underutilization in the current system with declining enrollment numbers and poor allocation of resources.

The new single sex school would cater specifically but not exclusively to young Bermudian males who are most at risk of dropping out of the existing public system. This would be a school intended to provide an environment that can work best for young males.

The proposed school would:

* Begin at Middle School and continue through S4 (Starting the programme in S1 is too late.)

* Use a fully-integrated technical curriculum alongside the core academic curriculum, beginning at M1 and continuing through S4.

* Utilize a high proportion of male teachers, recruited from overseas if the talent is not available here in Bermuda.

* Involve careful selection and recruitment of teachers and a principal, with salaries raised if necessary to get the highest quality. In addition, we should be prepared to invest in significant teacher professional development along with regular evaluations of teacher performance and accountability.

* Adopt practices from successful US/UK Charter Schools, such as the KIP programme - Knowledge is Power schools, including:

* Longer school days, beginning by 8 am and finishing between 5:30 to 6pm., with the additional time being used for extra help opportunities and drills to keep students on top and up to date with their work as well as time for athletics, arts, music and other hands-on extracurricular activities.

* Establish an effective discipline programme similar to those used successfully in many charter schools that rely on behavioural management skills and teaching students how to properly learn and focus on classroom activities.

* Teach the "soft-skills" and respect that may be missing from their current school environment.

* Enhanced career guidance along with work study/shadowing programs.

This week's black male study should not come as a surprise to anybody, including the government. Even though the Hopkins Report highlighted the desperate state of public education and Premier Brown stated that "education is in crisis" more than two and a half years ago, government reform has been bogged down in bureaucracy and frequent changes of leadership at the Ministry.

It is shameful - a shameful abandonment of their elected responsibility. To hear the Premier tell the public about his government's "commitment" to do something about the situation sounds depressingly hollow and, unfortunately, familiar. How can they be committed to reform when there has been no consistent leadership or continuity?

There is a pressing need to re-energize reform and drive the process forward. A single sex school could be the key to breaking the logjam that the government's process of reform has created.

Dr. Grant Gibbons is the Shadow Minister of Education.

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