Oct. 18, 2007 — Public schools in the Virgin Islands need help, but Lynn Spampinato — whose nomination as education commissioner has been mired in controversy since its announcement in August — is not the right person to get the job done, senators said during Thursday's full session.
Standing firm in their opposition, Sens. Liston Davis, Juan Figueroa-Serville, Neville James, Norman Jn Baptiste, Shawn-Michael Malone, Terrence "Positive" Nelson, Usie R. Richards, James Weber III, Carmen M. Wesselhoft, Celestino A. White and Alvin L. Williams voted against Spampinato's nomination, while Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Louis P. Hill, Basil Ottley Jr. and Ronald E. Russell voted in favor.
During a Rules Committee hearing last week, senators made it clear that most of their concerns about the nominee centered on a confidential agreement between Spampinato and one Pittsburgh school district. While the agreement has since been released to senators, many said on Thursday that there are still many "unknowns" to Spampinato's job performance, and whether she actually succeeded in turning around other school systems throughout the mainland.
Many, such as Davis, said they have been checking into Spampinato's employment history, placing calls to teachers' unions in Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Colorado.
"The president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers said she was surprised that the Legislature had not yet obtained a true picture of the record of Dr. Spampinato," Davis said. "They gave her a very negative evaluation, said she caused turmoil in the education system of Pittsburgh. They said she rushes in like a bull in a china closet, destroying both the good and the bad…."
Weber echoed these sentiments later in the hearing, saying that he hasn't been able to find "successes" in Spampinato's track record.
"Her resume is excellent," Weber said. "But I would say there's no success after that. We can't find it, because just isn't there, not in Colorado, Missouri or Pittsburgh. The governor has been talking about putting us on the road to reform. This can't be the only alternative that we ever have. He's not so infallible to think that there's not a Plan B or Plan C. And we must do what we think is right. So, Dr. Spampinato, best success to you elsewhere."
Others, such as Figueroa-Serville, said they "couldn't believe" that there aren't any local candidates who "have the intestinal fortitude" to lead the Education Department. Some, such as Jn Baptiste and Wesselhoft, said they wouldn't describe the local school system as a "failure." Instead, they said many of the same problems plague schools throughout the mainland.
The solution, they said, lies with more parental involvement, and fixing the societal ills — such as peer pressure and violence — that influence youngsters on a daily basis.
"It's unfortunate that this nomination has been involved in so much controversy," Jn Baptiste said. "And I'm wondering if we can get past that, confirm the nominee and have the kind of reformation that we've been speaking of."
Spampinato's supporters also spoke passionately throughout the hearing, saying that they are ready to fix systemic problems and provide students with the academic background they need to compete on a global level.
Speaking later in the hearing, Richards also said that support for Spampinato has been pouring in steadily from community members. Others said many of the numerous emails in senators' inboxes contained threats from community members who said they would not vote for any senator who voted against the nomination.
"A majority of the emails have a recurring theme," Richards said. "They said 'I hope you will vote yes for Dr. Spampinato,' and that the mentality of the senators appears to be that of a group of uneducated people."
On the Senate floor, Dowe and Russell spoke passionately about Spampinato's qualifications and her ability to make immediate headway into turning around the public school system. While Dowe described the other senators' objections as "a bunch of smoke and mirrors," Russell said that senators had not scrutinized, to the same extent, other department and agency heads that had come up for confirmation in the past few months.
"We really have gotten to the point where we're accepting mediocrity in education," Russell added. "We have to dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator. The real reality is that it's an hypocrisy, and we have to think about what's going to happen if we don't vote for this nominee."
Hill and Ottley said that a "no" vote would stymie any progress toward correcting problems in education.
"I'm not voting for the commissioner — I'm voting for the process to move forward," Ottley said. "Education reform is not going to happen without the total commitment of a society, everyone working to move forward and making the tough choices that are going to be necessary for our children in the future."
Hill added that the territory has continuously exhibited "deep-rooted problems" in education.
"I'm not going to vote or not vote for Dr. Spampinato because she's white, or not white, or because she's from here or not from here," he said. "I'm going to vote for her because she has demonstrated success in the past, and her record is clear on that also."
Despite the differences on Spampinato's nomination, senators also pushed through with minimal debate a sheaf of bills for consideration on Thursday's agenda. However, a bill setting up local programs geared toward reducing student dropout rates did raise concerns for Russell, who asked who would be responsible for implementing the programs now that senators had voted down Spampinato's nomination.
"I love it when the inconsistencies are glaring in our face," he said. "We're considering a dropout prevention bill, and then we deny our children the opportunity to gain an education commissioner. Who's going to implement this? Who's going to sign the documents in the Department of Education to implement it? And we have to hold our own selves responsible, because we're setting the policy, but we're not providing a mechanism of leadership to implement anything."
Despite the concerns, all 15 senators approved the bill. Senators also approved bills that:
— call for the Constitutional Convention to convene on Oct. 29;
— rename the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park on St. Thomas the "Franklin Delano Roosevelt Virgin Islands Memorial Park" in honor of fallen veterans;
— call for the governor to negotiate the return any excess parcels of land in Lower John Dunkoe on St. Thomas — formerly known as the site of the V.I. Hilton Hotel — to the government, for the construction of homes for veterans;
— transfer the housing functions under Housing, Parks and Recreation to the V.I. Housing Finance Authority
— seek to exclude "compulsive gamblers" from local casinos;
— honor the Rotary Club of St. Thomas for their contributions to the community;
— rezone about 12 acres of land in Smith Bay to allow for the construction of a commercial center. (See "Developers Preview Luxury East End Facility with Shopping, Housing and Dining.")
All senators were present during Thursday's session.
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