Aug. 23, 2001 – Repair work to schools will be complete and teachers will be ready for classes when children return to the Virgin Islands public school system on Tuesday, Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds said Thursday.
Summer repairs are still being wrapped up at some of the schools, but the contractors have assured her that the work will be completed by the first day of the new school year, Simmonds said during a press conference Thursday morning.
The Education Department has hired 48 new teachers for St. Croix and 33 for St. Thomas and St. John, she said. She said some shortage came about because of many teachers taking advantage of a retirement program.
Some classroom vacancies remain, Simmonds said, and the hiring process continues, but the hiring already done will allow the schools to meet most of the students' needs. "We are ready," she said. "There are a couple of vacancies, but we have sufficient teachers to start the school year."
Many of the new teachers are not certified to teach in the Virgin Islands, but in many cases, that is only because they have not taken a required course in V.I. history. These teachers will have an opportunity to meet the requirement, Simmonds said, and if they plan to stay in the school system, they will have to become certified.
She also said the department has set up a mentoring program to help the new teachers.
Repair work at the Charlotte Amalie High School music suite, which was heavily damaged in a fire in March of 2000, will not be complete by the beginning of the school year, Simmonds said, but the music suite is expected to open shortly after school opens.
Last spring, students themselves cleaned up the rehearsal hall and parents paid to get the air-conditioning fixed. On April 30, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull promised music students and teachers that he would get the repairs done. "Between the Senate and myself, we will find the money somehow. I pledge to you, we will have it done," he said.
The new Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School will not be fully ready to open next week, Simmonds said, but parts of the new buildings will be used. Areas still under construction will be cordoned off to ensure students' safety, she said. The whole school is expected to be ready for use by December, she said, and until then, students will continue to use the temporary modular units provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Marilyn devastated the campus in 1995.
The press conference covered a wide range of other issues facing the schools in the Virgin Islands. Among other things:
– Simmonds said a major push this year will be to give national tests to students to help determine where their strengths and weaknesses lie. The results of a national test administered last year showed that fourth grade students' math skills ranked second- to-last of 47 states and other jurisdictions in the nation, better only than those of students in American Samoa.
"Overall, our test scores have not been as good as we would like them to be," Simmonds said, adding that math scores were of particular concern. One of the reasons for the emphasis on assessment this year, she said, is so administrators will have a better idea of what programs need to change and where efforts should focus in professional development of teachers.
"We have not tested as regularly as we should have in the past," Simmonds said. "But we see this as a year of assessment."
– All four high schools on St. Croix and St. Thomas will offer advanced placement courses to high-achieving students this year. There have been limited AP offerings for some St. Croix students in the past, but this year will bring a full complement of courses in English language and composition, Spanish, biology, calculus and U.S. history.
The AP courses prepare students for college-level coursework, and students who pass AP tests may earn credit for college classes.
– Classes are being planned for talented students at the elementary level.
– Students in grades K-12 throughout the territory will be taking part in a new reading and technology program called Reading 180 in an effort to strengthen reading skills. The program utilizes computers, but many classrooms lack computers because vandals keep breaking into schools and stealing equipment, Simmonds said. Nevertheless, the program can move forward with students moving around to get to where computers are kept, she said.
