June 24, 2007 – If you see Diana Parker walking down the street with her hands in the air, she's likely juggling the many hats she has worn over the past three decades–and still wears–as a retired Virgin Island educator, community activist, American Cancer Society spokeswoman, Rotary Club honoree, mother of two.
For the past four years, Parker's energy has found its outlet as executive director of Beacon Schools of the Virgin Islands.
Don't be fooled by Parker's gentle, unassuming appearance. She rules with a firm hand. Although her current post is administrative, she says to the students, “If your parents had me as a teacher, anything they say about me is true; I haven't changed a bit.”
Parker's career has spanned 10 years in charge of the middle and upper schools at Antilles, four years as principal at St. Peter and St. Paul School, and 12 years as superintendent of Catholic Schools.
Most challenging in her current post, is “being able to secure continued funding on a timely basis. We are actually waiting for a grant right now, and for our third quarter allotment,” She says, “It's the same old story — you have to know there's always a time lag of some sort.”
The Beacon concept was first brought to light in the territory by former Sen. Lorraine Berry's 1996 Youth Symposium when Berry invited representatives of New York's highly successful Beacon Schools to participate. The after-school tutoring concept was adopted by local education officials, and a plan was drafted to start the territory schools in 1997.
Students are taught by a dedicated group of private citizens and actual teachers at the territory's regular schools after school is out. Beacon's goal is to improve the performance of troubled youth, reduce violence and provide a safe learning environment. The schools are open after regular school and in the evenings to provide a safe, nurturing environment where children and their families can come together in a healthy learning situation.
Although the schools primarily target the youngsters, in the last few years parents have become a part of the learning process. Speaking in 2001, former Beacon director, Valerie George, noticed when the program first started that parents would be sitting in their cars in the parking lot awaiting the students. She invited them to come in and participate and she said then, “It has worked well.”
The policy still works well today, Parker says. “There are about 1600 to 1800 students in all five Beacon schools today. I'd say between one-fourth and one-sixth are adults.”
Parker spoke knowledgeably of the challenges facing many parents in the territory, especially single parents. “So many kids in the territory are living under the poverty line,” she says. “We know that parents are working very hard just for the basics of shelter and sustenance, and oftentimes they don't have the opportunity to be there for their children when it is homework time.”
According to Kids Count data, the latest statistics available for 2004 show that the V.I. child-poverty rate is 35.1 percent – almost twice the national average rate of 18 percent.
The schools operate Monday though Thursday throughout the school year. The students are tutored between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and the adults are trained in parenting, computer literacy and computer training from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. “The focus now,” Parker says, “is working with parents of very young children to get them up to the preschool level, rather than having them having to catch up when they get to kindergarten. Oftentimes, what I hear from the schools is negative about these youngsters who haven't had the early training.”
Asked at year's end why they liked Beacon, student responses ran from the positive — “it helps me understand my work more and get better grades,” — to the telling “I don't have to go home.”
The school addresses students’ problems, one on one, in JUMP, a juvenile mentoring program supported through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The program matches adult mentors with troubled students who often have behavior issues which can interfere with their ability to pick up academic instruction.
The program serves 25 students per year at each of the five Beacon schools: Addelita Cancryn Junior High and E. Benjamin Oliver Elementary schools on St. Thomas, Claude O. Markoe Elementary and Elena L. Christian Junior High schools on St. Croix, and Julius Sprauve school on St. John.
When the DOJ grant ran out, Parker says, “the program was so effective, that we have continued it on our own.” Parker says the program is looking for mentors now. It is not an overly demanding effort on one's time. The mentors spend at least one hour every week with a student, with whatever problems he or she may be coming up against. It's the personal attention that is so important for the student, Parker says.
“Initially,” Parker says, “the program was only boys, but now it's grown to include girls.” The mentors must be at least 18 years old, and they undergo a background check.
The schools do not meet over the summer, Parker says. “We don't actually have any summer programs; we are too busy with the golf tournament. In 2006, it brought in 35 percent of our funding.” Fifty-six percent of financial support, she says, is from local and federal grants. The remaining nine percent is from other sources. The Beacon programs use 88 percent of the revenue, with the JUMP program getting the other 12 percent.
The program runs with two administrators and four JUMP administrators. “The teachers receive a stipend,” she says, “and the volunteers are unpaid.” The school runs under a Memorandum of Understanding with the V.I. Department of Education and has a 14-member board of trustees.
Right now Parker is up to her ears in organizing the 11th Beacon Celebrity Golf Classic at Mahogany Run August 17 through August 19. And they've got some exciting names, she said:
— from baseball Ken Griffey, Sr., Mike Smith and Reggie Smith
— from football Andy Johnson, Tim Brown, Tim Fox, Mark Moseley and Mike Rozier
— from basketball Greg Ballard, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, and Joe Kleine
— from golf David Mobley.
In addition, actors Earl Billings and Basil Wallace have confirmed.
Retirement is not part of Parker's makeup. She, in fact, looks surprised when asked about it.
“I love kids too much,” she says. “I have to be on the forefront to assist. More than once, I have been the only one testifying, the only non-Education Department person at hearings.”
Parker and her husband, retired University of the Virgin Islands professor Dennis Parker, have two grown children, Katherine, 34, and Rebecca, 33.
To apply to the program, contact Parker at 777-9300.
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