The government spent more than $2.2 million transforming the former Our Lady's Catholic Primary School into a special needs education center, Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald said yesterday.

While the school opened its doors to students in January, the government officially renamed the institution the Marjorie Davis Institute for Special Education, in honor of educator Marjorie Davis during a special ceremony at the school's Deveaux Street grounds yesterday.

Davis said the accolade was a gift she never expected.

"I humbly thank you the government and the minister and all of you who have gathered and who gave me the distinct privilege of having this facility put in my name," she said. "This is indeed an Easter gift, as I put it."

Davis has had a long career in education, having served as a senior education officer, assistant director of pupil services and senior assistant director in the Department of Education. She was also the first female director of education. Fitzgerald said Davis was an outstanding educator who is deserving of the honor.

The Ministry of Education revealed its plan to lease the building two years ago, after Our Lady's shut down at the end of the 2012/2013 school year.

The Bahamas Catholic Board of Education said years of dwindling enrollment forced its closure. Fitzgerald said the opening of the special needs school is evidence of the government's commitment to doubling its investment in education. Currently there are 20 students at the school, Principal Terrice Carey-Curry said. She said that represents a quarter of the school's target population.

"It is envisioned that come September we will have the remaining 80 students because the facility will accommodate 100 students," she said. "We have five intervention specialists along with two teacher's aides. It is also envisioned that in September we will have a full complement of staff."

Officers attached to the Bahamas National Screening Program identified the students. Program representative Sharon Dean-Laing explained how the process works.

"We are screening our first grade students to detect developmental delays early," she said. "It's all about early detection and intervention."

She said it's a phased process that starts with first graders filling out an assessment form.

"Once children have been red flagged with some concerns they move on to a second level...which is done by our resource coordinators," she said. "From there we may still identify other children who have to go on to a third level, which is done by the school psychologists."

Dean-Laing said the feeder program will address long-standing concerns in the public education system.

"This is just giving us an opportunity to really deal with our concerns early on so that we don't have children passing through the school system and lacking the skills that they need to have a successful career," she said. "That's one of our main challenges. The bulk of our children who have special needs are right in our classrooms right now. Day to day you hear the teachers complaining that they have students in their classroom who they can't deal with, and so you find students graduating, going on to high school lacking the basic foundational skills that they need."

Kendia Ferguson-Simmons, who also helps with the screening process, said once identified, each student gets lesson plans tailored to their developmental needs.

"At the end of the six-month period we give them another assessment to see if they have improved and to determine whether they remain here or go back to their school," Ferguson-Simmons said.

The pilot assessment program started in 2013 but didn't get fully underway until August 2014.

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