July 9, 2007 — Support was high Monday for the federal government to lease land within V.I. National Park to the local government so it can build an elementary and high school complex.
"The children are diamonds," said St. John resident Lorelei Monsanto. “They need to be polished. They're not going to be put on the sideline to protect land.”
More than 100 people overflowed the Legislature building on St. John to attend a U.S. House of Representatives committee meeting on the subject chaired by Delegate Donna M. Christensen. Only one other member, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, attended the meeting of the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs of the Committee on Natural Resources.
Christensen has proposed a bill to lease 10 acres of land from the park for the school. Only acting Park Superintendent Martha Bogle and Friends of the Park President Joe Kessler expressed concerns about the proposal.
"It will set a precedent that would in turn threaten national parks throughout the country,” Kessler said. “We wouldn't dream of selling off or giving away parts of Yosemite or Grand Canyon national parks, nor should we sell or give away a part of V.I. National Park.”
Bogle expressed the same concern. The Friends favor the original proposal, which was to swap local-government-owned land for park land, Kessler said.
However, Christensen said the idea of a swap was off the table and that a lease was the most feasible way to move forward. A proposal of some sort has been under discussion for about 30 years, she said.
"And we have not totally ruled out a conveyance,” she said. “We understand this is the preferred way.”
Several people testified that they would like the park to give the land outright to the local government for the school. Additionally, Sen. Carmen Wesselhoft said she wants the park to hand over 200 acres of land for housing because St. John land is too expensive for many people to buy.
"Just a couple of hundred acres out of over 9,000 could make all the difference in the world to young St. Johnians, and those older St. Johnians who would like to return home but cannot," she said.
While Christensen's bill calls for the lease of 10 acres, several people who testified asked that a 55-acre parcel be used for the school. The 10 acres is part of the 55 acres deeded to the park by the late Ethel Bishop. Located mid island at Catherineberg, it's flat and close to Centerline Road.
The 10 acres proposed by Christensen is thought to have less in the way of historical structures than other park acreage, but the park hasn't done a survey, Bogle said.
The school would serve students now attending Julius E. Sprauve in Cruz Bay and Guy Benjamin School in Coral Ba,y as well as those students who trek off on the ferry to St. Thomas daily to attend Eudora Kean High School.
Kristin Cox, who serves as co-chairwoman of the One Campus Group on St. John, suggested that students now being home schooled and attending private school would transfer to the new school.
Sprauve School has 240 students and Guy Benjamin 64, according to Lisa Forde, insular superintendent of the St. Thomas/St. John district for the Education Department. Other people testifying put the total number of students that might attend the new school at anywhere from 700 to 1,000.
Several stressed the need for a campus that includes a gymnasium, auditorium and other amenities. All the testifiers agreed that the local government needs to move Sprauve School out of the congested and busy Cruz Bay.
"There are danger zones all around the campus," Wesselfhoft said.
Christensen said her office will receive written comments on the bill for the next 10 working days. The address is Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, 1337 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.
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