May 28, 2003 – Sen. Ronald Russell announced on Wednesday that, in light of recent developments, he has postponed a planned Thursday evening hearing on the reported plans to close Edith L. Williams Elementary School.
Russell said he was postponing the meeting because "the Department of Education has delayed any action related to the closure" of the St. Thomas school. "I am very relieved that, at least for the time being, the students and teachers will not be relocated for the coming school year," he said.
"This situation is not resolved," he added, "but delaying the closing allows the administration and all concerned parties — parents, teachers and students — time to work out a solution that will be best for all involved."
The hearing had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday on St. Thomas, according to a release from Russell's office. That was the time when the Senate Education and Youth Committee, which Russell chairs, had been scheduled to meet.
The official legislative calendar had not included that information as part of the committee's agenda for the Thursday meeting. It listed the committee as considering two bills — one to establish a territorywide pilot after-school program for pupils in kindergarten through sixth grade, and the other to eliminate the statute of limitations regarding student loans.
On the night of May 14, a group of about 50 Williams parents and other stakeholders congregated on the steps of the Legislature Building while a Committee of the Whole meeting was under way inside. The group, there to protest plans to close the school, met with Russell and Sen. Carlton Dowe on the steps. (See "Parents protest plans to close Williams school".)
A memorandum dated April 29 from district schools Superintendent William I. Frett to Carolyn Archer, Williams principal, stated 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…"
However, in a May 9 letter, the Williams faculty and staff stated that the school's enrollment has actually increased in the last three years. Parents began circulating a petition to protest the school's closing.
On May 16, Education public information officer Juel Anderson said the department's position was that "there was a proposal made" to close the school. "The decision is still not concrete and final," she said.
"There is a process that we are going through internally," Anderson said then. "We have to advise people in the department and get their concerns." She added that the principal, parents and teachers "found out something, and they got up in arms — they felt they were left out of the loop."
An aide in Russell's office confirmed on May 16 that a "town meeting" on the matter had been scheduled for 6 p.m. May 29; efforts to obtain further information then were unsuccessful.
Russell expressed appreciation on Wednesday to Education Commissioner Noreen Michael, Superintendent William Frett and Williams Principal Carolyn Archer "for their sensitive and competent response to this issue." He said that "their willingness to compromise and keep the teachers and parents informed halted what could have been a very volatile situation."
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