June 10, 2002 – It has been said that high school graduates flip their tassels and head off to the states without a concern for their homeland and the issues that affect their communities, but alumni of the St. Croix Educational Complex have not severed their umbilical cords from their alma mater.
On May 22, the Legislature voted to commend Beryl Clarissa Adams-Francis posthumously for her "unselfish service and dedication to the people of the Virgin Islands" by naming the St. Croix Educational Complex in her honor.
On May 29, a letter and petition with more than 700 signatures protesting the renaming was sent to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull from the administration, faculty and staff at Educational Complex High School. Copies were sent to senators, the Board of Education, the acting commissioner of Education and the St. Croix superintendent of schools.
Educational Complex 9th grader Semoya Phillips wanted to get the word out to alumni off island, too, so she e-mailed her sister, a member of the Complex Class of 1998 and a recent graduate of the University of Tampa, about the petition being circulated. She says she was surprised to get six e-mails back, all from graduates opposed to the renaming.
"It was extremely pleasing to receive so many heart-felt responses from alumni of our school," Semoya said of the messages she received with her sister's help. "To see that our former students who are so far away from the situation care so much about what goes on at the Complex. It was as though we shared one spirit, our school spirit."
"I am opposed to the renaming of my high school because of the three years of excellence and memories that I have experienced," Juliette Vanterpool, Class of 1998, said. Vanterpool is about to graduate from the University of Miami. "It would be unfair for the thousands of students that have already graduated, who have carried that name with us in our hearts for years, wherever we went and whatever we did," she e-mailed.
Faculty, staff call renaming costly
The staff at Educational Complex gave similar reasons in protesting the renaming. Their letter to Turnbull stated: "Our identity has already been established in the field of education locally and nationally." The letter gave as other reasons, "we are well known and accepted by the colleges and universities on the mainland. To rename the school would force us to restart the process of establishing a new identity."
The faculty also said the cost of a name change to the school, its students and their parents would be "exorbitant."
"All school organizations, both academic and extra-curricular, that wear identifying uniforms advertising the school's name will be required to repurchase these uniforms at their own cost," the wrote. "This is an additional burden imposed on students and parents due to the lack of funding. All official stationery, school stamps, seals and signs would have to be changed. All handbooks for the school's Math/Science Magnet Program and School-to-Career Programs would have to be republished."
The faculty suggested that naming a specific area within the complex, such as the track and field facility, library and/or auditorium, would be a more suitable way of honoring Adams-Francis, who was a sprinter and an artist.
"This would fit the tradition that has already begun with the naming of the gymnasium as the Timothy Duncan Gymnasium, " the letter said.
Former Complex athlete Kimberlee Lewis agreed: "If they want to name something after this lady, name the track after her, since she was a sprinter in her time. Not the school."
Another 1998 Complex graduate, Julita Yarwood, e-mailed that she is "glad this is being protested. I wish I could be in St. Croix to physically protest." The Temple University graduate added, "Without any public notice, to change the name. That's ridiculous."
Senator suggests after-the-fact forum
Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, chair of the Legislature's Education Committee and a former teacher, said he voted for the bill to rename the school complex and hopes some amicable agreement can be reached on the issue. He suggested that a public forum, while it might not change the decision, could allow all concerned to feel as if they are part of the process. "All of this is unfortunate," he said. "The individual is worthy of such honor posthumously."
But Jn Baptiste also said renaming a "segment" of the school for Adams-Francis might be a solution.
Senior class president and moot court competitor Makeda Okolo said she when she heads off to American University this fall, she will represent Educational Complex with pride. As a political science major and with a communications minor, she criticized the renaming process as undemocratic. "It did not involve the input of those affected, although the bill may have good intentions," she said. "We sent out those letters, and to date we have received no response."
U.S. Army Spc. James M. Nanton, a Complex alumnus who is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, e-mailed, "I already have St. Croix Complex all over Texas because how I speak about it loud and proud." He added, "I think it is too late to change the name, and who is this person the government is going to change the name to?"
The legislation's sponsor, Sen. Adlbert M. Bryan, dismissed the school community's concerns in a press release dated June 3, saying his intentions were not to create tension and distrust of the democratic process, but to "influence students to take pride in their schools and public buildings by naming them after prominent Virgin Islanders."
Bryan said that the petition "seems to object to the renaming as an obstacle of accreditation, a compromise of the school's identity and a depletion of already expended funds for stationery and miscellaneous supplies." But, he continued, "I daresay if we follow that logic, no building would ever bear the name of our local heroes."
In his view, "The only foreseeable expense is for the changing of the school signs."
Beryl Clarissa Adams-Francis was a noted sprinter and all-around athlete. She graduated from Christiansted Senior High School in 1943 and began a career in the education. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from New York University, she returned to St. Croix, where she was named supervisor of kindergarten and primary education in 1962.
Three renaming resolutions opposed
The renaming of government facilities to honor Virgin Islanders has caused considerable outcry in recent days in two other instances in addition to the Educational Complex flap.
There is no legal requirement that a bill in the form of a resolution to rename a government facility be the subject of a public forum or a Senate hearing.
Last month, a bill to rename Peace Corps School on St. Thomas for longtime educator Lucille V. Roberts sparked opposition from school administrators, teachers, parents and community members. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, then announced that she was withdrawing her resolution, at least for the time being, at the request of Roberts' family..
Meantime, the Senate on May 23 — a day after adopting the Educational Complex renaming resolution — adopted another to name the pavilion building at the Patrick Sweeney Headquarters on St. Croix for the late George A. Farrelly, a former Police commissioner. Again, Bryan was the sponsor, with Sens. Carlton Dowe and Celestino A. White Sr. as co-sponsors. That move has been met with opposition within the police ranks.
Both the Educational Complex resolution and the Patrick Sweeney pavilion resolution await the governor's action.
On Sept. 12, 1996, the Senate passed a bill to honor attorney Albert A. Sheen posthumously by renaming the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands i
n his honor. That renaming has not occurred.
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