Sept. 20, 2007 — Obtaining land from the V.I. National Park for a public school on St. John moved forward Thursday when the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Insular Affairs approved a bill to authorize the Interior Secretary to enter into a long-term lease with the V.I. government.
“Today’s action by the Subcommittee helps to move the process forward to provide quality and safe education for the students of St. John on their home island that they both need and deserve,” Delegate Donna M. Christensen said in a news release issued Thursday.
Christensen, who chairs the Subcommittee, proposed the bill in January. She held a hearing on the bill July 9 on St. John.
Except for representatives from the park and the Friends of the Park group, support for leasing land within the park for the school was very strong. More than 100 people attended the meeting, with many speaking out in favor of the bill. (See "Congressional Committee Meeting Draws Large Crowd for New-School Discussion".)
While the issue has been on the burner for decades, until recently most suggestions have focused on swapping park land with land owned by the V.I. government. Whistling Cay off St. John's north shore was among the properties often discussed.
At the July meeting, Christensen said that leasing land was the most feasible way for the project to move forward.
While Christensen's bill calls for 10 acres to be leased, several testifiers asked that a 55-acre parcel be used for the school. The 10 acres is part of the 55 acres deeded by the late Ethel Bishop to the park. Located mid-island at Catherineberg, it's flat and close to Centerline Road.
Students now attending Julius E. Sprauve School in Cruz Bay and Guy Benjamin School in Coral Bay as well as those who take the ferry daily to St. Thomas to attend Eudora Kean High School would relocate to the new school. Sprauve School sits in the middle of congested and noisy Cruz Bay, and Benjamin School is aging and its infrastructure needs work.
Kristin Cox, who serves as co-chairwoman of the One Campus Group on St. John, suggested in July that students now being home-schooled and attending private school would transfer to the new school.
She said Thursday it was important for the park to realize that it lives within the St. John community, not that the community lives in the park.
"We have to work together as a team. It's all for the benefit of the children," she said.
St. John resident Lorelei Monsanto said she was elated at the news.
"If we all work together — the Friends of the Park, the residents of St. John, the National Park itself, and the local government — we will have a state-of-the-art facility on St. John," Monsanto said.
Friends of the Park President Joe Kessler said Thursday that a lease sets a dangerous precedent, but that an equitable swap is the best option if land can't be found outside the park boundaries for the school.
"The friends continue to believe the school needs to be moved. The site under consideration is worth considering," Kessler said.
Park Superintendent Mark Hardgrove said that the National Park Service only has the authority to exchange land, not lease it out.
"But the national park will do whatever Congress says to do," he said.
However, he said he understands the need for the school, and added that the park plans to develop programs targeted at local school children.
The bill now goes to the full House Committee on Natural Resources which is expected to vote on sending it to the floor for consideration shortly.
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