Feb. 9, 2009 — From his post as chairman of the Youth, Education and Culture Committee of the 28th Legislature, freshman Sen. Wayne James wants to shake up public education.
"One major shift for education would be to raise the compulsory education age to 18," James said in a recent interview. "Currently that is 16, which is thoroughly antiquated, so I hope that will get quick support."
There should be more proficiency exams and repetition of basic skills whenever necessary, he said.
"They all start out bright and eager and ready to learn," he said. "When children are promoted on without the skills they need and come to believe they can't get the skills, they drop out of school because the law allows you to. … Sixteen is perhaps the most tumultuous point in that whole tumultuous adolescent period, and you cannot have children in the midst of that making decisions that we know will affect their whole lives."
A strong cultural-education curriculum will help kids in other aspects of academia, he suggested.
"I think children tend to see the relevance of education when they can relate it to who they are," he said. "There is an effort underway, but I don't think it is sufficiently funded, so its ability to come up with a curriculum will be compromised. If we are serious, the funds have to be put into effect."
James wants more arts education and stronger technical vocational and trade programs. More ambitiously, he would like to create a live-in alternative school.
"We need a school for children from dysfunctional families where the students are surrounded by attention and focus," he said. "The existing one was so ill-equipped they had to close it. But I also think we have lots of functional families that are totally incompatible with studying. A lot of children have siblings and family all around and don't have a room where they can study in peace. Many come from households where the parents think education should only happen in school and shouldn't interfere with their convenience. … I suggest a public boarding school."
Born Sept. 14, 1961, to an old St. Croix family, Wayne James is the son of Evelyn Messer James and the late Gustav A. James Sr. of Frederiksted.
James is well-known locally for his historical research, fashion design and "fine collecting," including antiques. (See "Wayne James Says He's Found a 4th Fireburn 'Queen.'")
James ran for a seat in the Legislature on several occasions before winning a seat this fall.
During candidate forums this past fall, James said he could support some form of government subsidy to keep utility bills down if oil prices shoot up again. He also said he supports trying to get Hovensa to cut the territory a break on fuel prices, but only as a stopgap on the way toward alternative-energy sources.
"I think every rational person would say in the long run we need clean, renewable energy," James said this fall. "But every person on this island wants to see it resolved by their next light bill. And only Hovensa has the power to do that. They are the ones who control the oil on this island."
James supports moving away from oil, but does not support using petroleum coke, favoring wind, solar, wave and other sources that do not come from fossil fuels.
Like most of the St. Croix legislative caucus, James said this fall he is not happy with the long-term agreement the V.I. government signed with Diageo corporation for the construction of a large new distillery on the island.
James graduated in 1983 from Bradley University with a bachelor's degree in English literature and art history. Immediately after graduating, he returned to St. Croix to work with the Division of Tourism as the tourism careers coordinator. A year later he entered the Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C., where he obtained a juris doctor degree with a focus on international law.
In 1987, while in his last semester of law school at Georgetown, then 25-year-old James presented his first fashion collection in New York's SoHo district. Then-Washington Post Fashion Editor Nina Hyde hailed James as "one of the rising stars among young New York designers."
Since then he has designed garments for Pope John Paul II, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and the late Diana, princess of Wales.
In 2004, Ebony Magazine named James one of the foremost black fashion designers in America.
As for furniture collecting, he said in an interview, "The first piece of furniture I bought for myself was a mahogany hat stand in 1984." He continued, "Since then, I've continued to add to my collection over time. I see the objects I collect as a celebration of the person who made them." (See "On Island Profile: Wayne James.")
In 1993, James created a line of island-inspired seasonings and sauces called Carnival. Today the line is sold in outlets ranging from gourmet stores to military commissaries to department stores across America.
In 1998 he founded the Homeward Bound Foundation to encourage worldwide, multiracial healing from the ravages of the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans. On July 3, 1999, the Homeward Bound Foundation lowered a monument onto the floor of the Atlantic Ocean in recognition of the estimated millions of Africans who died en route to slavery in the New World on European slaving vessels, thereby placing a gravestone on what had been previously described as "the world's largest — yet unmarked — graveyard, the Atlantic Ocean's infamous Middle Passage."
For its efforts, James' Homeward Bound Foundation was awarded the International Humanitarian Medal in Paris, and the foundation is in discussion with various nations regarding the placement of replicas of the Middle Passage Monument in key cities around the world.
James is a past member of the Landmarks Society board of trustees and is currently a member of the board of directors of Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT). In December 2008, James was named senate liaison to the White House. He is presently working on two books: Fashionable Foods: The Guide to Modern Caribbean Cooking, and We Are Who We Were, a book on the sociocultural history of the territory.
James sees his charge while in office as a simple one.
"My goal is to make the island better than I found it," he said. "We need to do what is in the interest of the public. … I look to what I can accomplish these two years and I hope to be able to leave the Legislature feeling proud."
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