Two dozen "bad guys" put in hard time for a good cause Saturday afternoon at the AZ Academy Jail or Bail fundraiser, held on the Christiansted waterfront.
The "bad guys," however, were really friends of the Christiansted private school, pitching in for the school’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
For Jail or Bail 2012, the school rounded up 24 community volunteers to become "jailbirds," who agreed to raise "bail" via a donation to the school from among their friends and families. If they failed, they had to face "Judge" Lionel Downer, who banged the gavel on each of the volunteers and consigned them to the ersatz hoosegow – a lattice of black-painted PVC pipe under an awning – until the amount was raised.
By the end of the afternoon, more than $20,000 had been collected, and money was still "flying in" that evening, according to Paula Heller, the executive director and co-founder of AZ Academy.
Heller said the school likes to try different approaches to fundraising.
"Everybody has an auction," she said. "We wanted to do something different."
AZ Academy also hosts a Fall Festival which brings in funds "a dollar at a time."
Heller was also one of the miscreants, doing time for the crime of "plotting to inspire children to reach their full potential." Other charges faced by the volunteers included "poking children with needles (Dr. Anthony Ricketts)," multiple counts of solicitation for St. Croix charities, “failure to resist a volunteering opportunity," and one woman who was charged simply with being "In cahoots."
The volunteer "miscreants" for Jail or Bail 2012 were:
Carol Boston, Trisha Resvic, Daniel Matarangas-King, Paul Hess, Dylan Heistand, Julie Printy, Ethan Wyatt, Sen. Sammuel Sanes, Nicole Johnson. Kevin Moran, Paula Heller, Dr. Anthony Ricketts, Kim Jones, Kim Deline, Gizette Thomas, Tammy Londer, Greg Worrell, Mark Eckard, Bryan Ridgway, Cirey Crouthamel, John Harper, Bruno, Kelly Holmes, and Laura Ballard.
The need for school fundraising is even more important this year, as all St. Croix’s private and parochial schools are bracing for the effects of the closure of the Hovensa refinery. One of the company benefits its employees received was tuition for their children to attend private schools. The company is paying through the end of the school year. Next September, many of the students will be off island, and many more will be in public schools.
In March, St. Croix District Superintendent Gary Molloy surveyed the private schools to learn how many students might be moving to the public schools in September. Only two responded at the time, the two largest, Country Day and Good Hope. Those two reported expecting to lose a total of 250 students between them, Molloy said, which amount to between a third to a half of their current enrollments.
Heller said AZ Academy expects to lose only eight of its students, but with an enrollment of only 85 it’s not an insignificant number. She has worked in recent years to diversify the revenue sources for the school. 
"We’re weathering it pretty well," she said.
A summer camp at the school brings about 200 children to the AZ campus from through the summer months, she said. A five-year grant provides funding for an after school program for public school students. After consulting with the National Guard, a new Saturday program provides child care on campus while parents are doing their Guard training.
"It’s really about meeting the needs in the community," Heller said.
No figure on how much was raised Saturday was available at press time.
