Dear Source:
The comment: "Commissioner of Education announced the initiative to obtain accreditation for the Junior and Middle schools in the territory and that one of the High Schools on St. Croix won accreditation for the first time last year" is not exactly one of tremendous pride. We should be ashamed that in the year 2006, all of our schools are still not accredited. Our children have to compete in the 21st century and our schools are far from giving them a competitive edge. It is ridiculous that this situation exists in this day and age.
Poor performance is poor performance…period. It's not mindless criticism to stand up to poor performance of our so-called leaders. That has nothing to do with personal. It has everything to do with a job not well done. Our children cannot afford to be left dangling on a string. Every child in our community deserves equal and the very best education opportunities possible in accredited schools. We do our children a disservice by not standing up on their behalf.
Over the years I have been personally involved with helping numerous children and teens in both regular and computer skills. These children and teens are not my own but they are children of this community. I have taken my personal time to help them in any way I can. I have seen directly how a poor education system is impacting these children and because of that, I will stand up to saying "enough is enough"!
Children attitudes about school and studying change for the better when they feel anyone really cares about how they are doing and encourages them. They get excited about learning. We need every child in this community, on every one of our islands, to feel excited about learning. We need leaders that can inspire teachers into better performances as well by supporting their needs in the classrooms. Poor leadership leads to despaired teachers and all of it falls right down on top of the children of this community. There is only so much teachers can do without support of leadership.
Teachers shouldn't have to be taking monies out of their own pockets for supplies or anything else to enhance their classroom situations. We need to demand better performance from all officials and when the job is not done well, they need to be replaced, again and again, until we get to the point of finding people who can really perform well and serve the whole of this community to the levels it should be served. Every one is this community suffers when poor performances take place. If officials want to keep their seats or move up to higher seats, then they need to prove they are worthy of keeping their seat or moving up.
The public has the right to evaluate the performance or lack of performance of any official. After all, it is the public they are there to serve.
Carol Berry
St. Thomas
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