Aug. 28, 2006 – While thousands of children and teenagers on St. Croix headed out to their first day of school, the buses that were to provide transportation for many of them stayed in the bus yard.
Education officials said Monday that there was no prior warning the buses would not be in service and that many students were left to their own devices to get to their first day of class.
An employee of Abramson Bus Service, which provides transportation for all public and private schools on St. Croix, said the problem was with the government. "The government did not pay on time," said the employee, who asked not to be identified, adding that this was the reason there was no service.
He said the owner of the company was off-island and not available to comment, but "the buses will run tomorrow."
St. Croix Superintendent of Schools Cecelia Knowles said she "did not know why" the buses did not run Monday. She said the check to pay the company was on St. Thomas and it was delivered to St. Croix early Monday.
"They have their check in hand today," Knowles said around noon Monday.
Knowles said that not having bus service was not all bad because more parents took their children to school for their first day. "The parents came out in droves," Knowles said. "It worked out for us, we really didn't miss anything."
"It's just poor management," said Tyrone Molyneaux, St. Croix American Federation of Teachers president, adding that he didn't have much more to say on the subject.
Molyneaux did say he was still assessing the conditions of the schools, and would be available to make comments on the conditions in a few days.
He said he visited the Alfredo Andrews Elementary School and found its condition "poor." He said the school, which is located in Kingshill, had "no meaningful work done" over the summer.
Molyneaux mentioned that teachers at various schools reported to him that their suggestions for improving the conditions of various classrooms "don't get addressed." He said that was a "disappointment" to the instructors.
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