Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson said yesterday that the union is not satisfied with the conditions at Uriah McPhee and Stephen Dillet primary schools, despite assurances from Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald that the schools do not threaten the health and safety of students and teachers.

"It was actually comical that the minister was parading around on Sunday at Stephen Dillet and Uriah McPhee schools where workmen were still working on the weekend. Schools which he said were ready more than two weeks ago," Wilson said.

"I want to say that we are still concerned about the air conditioning units because you know teachers would have been teaching outside this week at Stephen Dillet because the units were not working in the grade four sections."

Wilson said the union is still concerned about exposed fiberglass at one of the schools, mold, and poor cleaning of the vents.

The Ministry of Education closed the primary schools on Friday 13, because of several health issues and malfunctioning air conditioning units.

The schools opened Tuesday after Fitzgerald said the Ministry of Environment gave the all-clear.

Officials from the Ministry of Education, the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) toured both schools on Sunday.

Fitzgerald previously said that an air conditioning unit at Uriah McPhee Primary School was "sabotaged" multiple times, forcing education officials to close the school for another day.

He said that those repairs have been made and there should be no problems moving forward with the security personnel in place.

Wilson said she heard that rats were eating through the air conditioning wires.

"From the information that I would have gotten, the big rats that are at the school, they are going into the units and nibbling on the wires," she said.

"So maybe he should ask environmental health services not only to do away with the rodents at the school, but to go in and do and in-depth assessment of the air condition units.

"That's what we have been asking for the last several weeks.

"Another thing I want to state to the minister is that my email address hasn't changed.

"My address is still 100 Bethel Avenue. Our telephones are still working, so he can send the information to our office. We don't need a third party bringing information to us.

"I don't intend to continue with a public discourse with the minister because we have so many other options that are available to us as a union."

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