May 14, 2003 – A group of about 50 parents and students from Edith L. Williams Elementary School took up positions on the Legislature Building steps Wednesday night to protest plans just made public recently to close the school on Weymouth-Rhymer Highway at the end of this academic year.
Sen. Ronald Russell, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, and Sen. Carlton Dowe, who were in the Senate chambers at the Committee of the Whole meeting on the proposed V.I. Tourism Authority, came outside to listen to the group's concerns. The parents expressed outrage at the Education Department's action –and that they had not been told of the closing earlier in the school year.
Dowe had copies of correspondence he had received on Monday about the school closing. A letter from the faculty and staff of the school dated May 9 states in part:
"This letter is in response to the Summary Report dated April 16 and the Memorandum dated April 29, which were shared with us on May 6.
"The faculty and staff of the Edith L. Williams Elementary School were both shocked and appalled, not only by the stunning news of the school's prospective closing, but also by the manner in which we were informed just prior to the closing of the 2002-2003 academic school year."
A memorandum dated April 29 from district schools Superintendent William I. Frett to Carolyn Archer, Williams principal, states in part: "On March 18, I informed you that the declining enrollment of Edith Williams Elementary School necessitated its closing at the end of the present school year. Its present enrollment of approximately 133 students presents a fiscally responsible argument to transfer students and staff to another school."
The May 9 letter from the Williams faculty and staff states that the school's enrollment has increased, not declined, in the last three years, with 39 new enrollees in 2000-2001, 42 school year, and 58 this school year.
The letter details the school's impressive history of academic accomplishment and concludes: "We feel that it is unfair to compare our school to other schools, such as Joseph Gomez Elementary, which we consider to be a mega-school. All research supports the fact that such large schools do not show significant academic gains. On the contrary, research has strongly supported that small school settings … show greater gains. We feel that [Williams school] is in line with President Bush's Education Reform Act, and we oppose the … decision to close it."
It was not possible Wednesday evening to get comment from school faculty or Education Department officials.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
