Public schools welcomed thousands of students and their parents on the first day of classes for the fall semester. For many — especially the children — it was a day of glad reunions with classmates and teachers and staffers. For school administrators, it was a day to manage a stream of visitors with questions on scheduling and class assignments.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. joined Education Department officials on a visit to greet the families showing up at one St. Thomas school Wednesday morning. At another school, Sen. Avery Lewis of the Senate Education Committee began a readiness tour of facilities that underwent inspection in late July/early August.
“I always love to see kids on the first day of school. It reminds me of the first day I took my kids to school,” the governor said. “And today, surprisingly, is pretty good. We don’t have as much crying, so that’s pretty good.”
First day impressions shared by officials, administrators and parents varied. Some shared their thoughts with members of the press; others took to social media. Others simply thought out loud as they made their way through the day.
Lindon Poleon, a father of two Joseph Gomez Elementary School students, stood at a distance, watching his first-grader and one just starting kindergarten. Poleon said he was pleased with the way things were going. “I had a chance to meet the teachers; they were very nice,” he said.
Principals and assistant principals at three public schools spoke about new cellphone policies, new courses in development and how quickly students settled into their classrooms on day one. At Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, Principal Sally Petty spoke about an array of activities, including the garden club, the chess club, cheerleading, and the sewing club.
Kean High is also making progress in restoring the school’s fish farm with help from teachers in the science department, Petty said.
“We have athletics, we have the Honor Society; we have a book club, a reading club — so there’s a lot of things the students can get into besides academics after school,” the principal said.
Few were willing to discuss the problems they faced with equipment — or lack thereof —and maintenance issues on opening day. Charlotte Amalie High School Principal Njnanya Boyd turned away questions about having to manage school operations on an active construction site. Boyd also turned down a request from a visitor to view the on-campus Sprung shelter set up during hurricane reconstruction efforts, which is now reportedly being used as a cafeteria, gym and auditorium.
At last assessment by Education Committee inspectors, the CAHS shelter lacked air conditioning.
“It’s where we feed our children; it’s where we have study hall — it’s very important — but we have made the adjustments necessary in the absence of Sprung as far as the AC units,” Boyd said.
Students were instead assembled in the school gymnasium, several parents complained on social media. “First day of school at CAHS, and they’ve got a bunch of them just packed into the gym twiddling their thumbs. Not like we had all summer to address mold and air conditioning issues,” one parent said.
Air conditioning was also a topic among office workers at Yvonne Millner-Bowsky School in Mandahl. It also factored into the way officials at the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School approached orientation this year.
The plan was to hold smaller group orientations to prevent large, uncomfortable gatherings.
“We did not have seventh- and eighth-grade orientation this year. We opted only to have sixth grade because they’re coming in new, and new seventh- and eighth graders coming into the school,” said acting BCB Principal Kifani Hendricks-Carey.
Bryan acknowledged the ups and downs of getting schools in shape in 2025. Federal funding arrived slowly and came with new conditions attached. That, he said, led to a late start for contractors and maintenance crews.
“That delayed things, and then the schools are 50 years old; I was passing Ulla Muller (Elementary School) yesterday and realized I was sitting in a classroom at Ulla Muller 50 years ago, and the school wasn’t new then. So, we are really focused on getting the new schools up,” Bryan said.
