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Guy Benjamin School to Close

After more than a year of speculation by the St. John community that Guy H. Benjamin Elementary School in Coral Bay was doomed to close, Education Department top brass Monday made it official in meetings at the school. The 73 students who enrolled so far in grades kindergarten through sixth for the next school year at Guy Benjamin will be bused to Julius E. Sprauve School in Cruz Bay.

“Our focus is on efficiency,” Education Commissioner Donna Frett-Gregory told crowd of more than 100 who gathered in the school’s cafeteria to hear what she had to say.

Frett-Gregory cited declining enrollment as part of the problem. She said in the 2010-11 school year, Guy Benjamin had 112 students. It dropped to 100 the next year and then down to 83 in 2012-13.

For this school year, the school started with 87 students but Education moved 19 of the kindergarteners and first-graders to Sprauve because of teacher shortages and low enrollment in those grades at Guy Benjamin.

Frett-Gregory said that the department’s ongoing teacher shortage also contributed to the problem.

Despite repeated questions from several people who attended the meeting, Frett-Gregory refused to say how much closing the school would save the government.

“I don’t want to have a conversation about funding,” Frett-Gregory said, repeating similar responses every time the question was asked.

Moving Guy Benjamin students to Sprauve means that the school will have to have two classes for each of the grades to meet teacher union mandates. This prompted several people to ask why not shift students from Sprauve to Guy Benjamin to increase the Guy Benjamin class size.

Frett-Gregory held fast to her opinion that it wasn’t feasible to do so.

Except for the two Guy Benjamin teachers who are retiring, the teachers and staff will move to Sprauve School.

Later, teacher Mary Burks, who plans to retire from her teaching job at Guy Benjamin when school ends, said that the government has systematically dismantled Guy Benjamin. When the principal went out on medical leave, she was not replaced, Burks said, adding that instead, Sprauve Principal Dionne Wells did duty at both schools.

Burks also said the government has not provided any funding for Guy Benjamin’s operating budget in months. She said the school gets by on money raised by the Coral Bay Yacht Club through its annual flotilla.

Wells acknowledged that the transition will be difficult for both the Guy Benjamin and Sprauve teachers.

Several parents also aren’t happy about the change, especially when they say Guy Benjamin was producing exceptional education.

“We are not running at full caliber but we are still getting good test scores,” Colleen Brooker said, adding that the school consistently meets the standards in the Adequate Yearly Progress report.

Several retired educators attended the meeting, including former Guy Benjamin teacher Zenobia Lomax. Almost in tears, she expressed concern about the “babies” being bused to Cruz Bay.

According to Frett-Gregory, the department will have paraprofessionals also ride the bus from Coral Bay to Cruz Bay with the young students.

Claudette Monroe, an aide to Gov. John deJongh Jr., said that the Public Works Department is exploring the feasibility of turning Guy Benjamin School into a community center.

In response to a question from several people about whether the school property would become part of a proposed marina on land owned by the Moravian Church, Frett-Gregory said no one had discussed anything with her.

“Maybe you’re in the dark,” Coral Bay resident Richard Burks said.

Oswin Sewer, who is retired from teaching at Sprauve, asked Frett-Gregory whether the department couldn’t hold off on its decision until a new administration is in place next year.

“I’m not going to respond,” Frett-Gregory said as many of those at the meeting applauded Sewer’s question.

Marva Applewhite, also a retired educator, said she attended the school as a child.

“I am leaving here sad tonight and questioning whether education is a priority,” she said.

The school bears the name of the late Guy Benjamin, an educator who died at age 98 in 2012.

Officials met first with the school’s teachers and staff but refused to allow the press inside. Reporters had to wait for the subsequent meeting held several hours later with parents.

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