A few weeks shy of the opening of the 2000-01 school year, Education officials have admitted that what they were hoping for months to avoid – an exodus of teachers from the public school system – has occurred. This will affect classes on all three islands, though the problem appears more severe in the St. Thomas-St. John district.
After spending months recruiting replacement teachers, the Education department's director of personnel, Alcess Lewis-Brown, said Monday that if schools were to reopen today, St. Croix would squeeze by with minimal problems.
"We can identify a teacher for every vacancy we have in the St. Croix district," Lewis-Brown said.
The biggest problem, she said, is with school nurses and special education instructors. "We have two special education vacancies on St. Croix and nine on St. Thomas," Lewis-Brown said, attempting to reassure the community that all bases were covered on St. Croix in the major subject areas. "We will be OK on St. Croix, having filled the vacancies in the math, science and social studies areas."
On St. Thomas there is a more acute problem because the resignations and retirement of teachers have been more prevalent.
"We have applications under review to fill four math positions, two bi-lingual teaching posts and nine special education positions," Lewis-Brown said.
She reported a total of seven resignations at the Bertha Boschulte Middle School and 10 to 11 vacancies at Charlotte Amalie High School. There were no resignations at the Addelita Cancryn Junior High School.
Lewis-Brown said the department has been attempting to counteract last-minute notification by teachers that they will not return. "Better opportunities elsewhere and a relatively low salary scale have contributed to this problem, which seemed to intensify this year," she said.
She reproached parting teachers who notified the department only recently that they would not return later this month. "This has created a difficult position" for public school administrators, Lewis-Brown said, noting that any teacher who failed to notify the department in a timely manner will be held responsible. "Anytime a request is made for a recommendation of that teacher, the department will respond that he or she "did not resign in good standing." The department will tell prospective employees that those teachers did not leave on good terms, she said, adding, "It behooves the teachers to tell us in advance of their plans not to return."
