More job cuts are likely in the U.S. Virgin Islands public schools, but Department of Education officials were adamant Friday that last month’s round of cuts were carried out in a humane way.
Education Commissioner LaVerne Terry and some of her top deputies addressed the V.I. Board of Education Friday afternoon on a range of issues. Inevitably, the recent job cuts were among the hottest items discussed.
In response to budget cuts, the department in February dismissed 23 employees, 14 of them teachers. Despite rumors of wider, draconian cuts, the dismissals were handled “in a humane manner,” according to St. Thomas/St. John School Superintendent Jeanette Smith-Barry.
“There was nothing disrespectful or inhumane about the way the teachers were informed,” she said. “No teacher was grabbed from the front of their classroom.”
Smith-Barry said a newspaper story detailing one teacher’s experience when dismissed “was utterly false.” The superintendent said the article extensively quoted an employee who doesn’t exist. “There’s no such person,” she said.
St. Croix Superintendent Gary Molloy seconded Smith-Barry’s assessment, saying, “There was no dismissal done in an inhumane fashion. There were no police.”
He added that the day had already been stressful for all concerned, but to then hear the rumors of what had happened made things even worse.
Terry said the department’s original budget at the start of the fiscal year had been about $117 million. Then they received notice that because of budgetary shortfalls her budget was being cut by $5 million. In February, she was told another $5 million cut was coming.
Schools are a different entity than other government departments, Terry said. In some departments, if the budget is cut the service simply cannot be delivered. In schools, the students are going to show up to be educated regardless of the budget. And when the department’s budget is 80 to 85 percent personnel costs and the budget has to be trimmed, there’s not much anyone can do except let people go.
And now the department is already looking at another cut, this one of about $9 million for the coming fiscal year, Terry said. The two cuts that already took place and the projected $9 million cut add up to more than 10 percent of the budget.
Terry was unable to say when another round of dismissals might be required or how many teachers might be affected.
The commissioner said the decision about who to let go was based on standards set out in the collective bargaining agreements with the unions who represent department employees.
Terry also said that in the midst of worry about dismissing more employees, the department also has to worry about possible teacher shortages at the beginning of the next school year. Teachers have been asked to tell their district by April 15 whether they plan to retire at the end of the school year. In the meantime, superintendents have been working with school administrators to determine what their staff needs will be next year.
Throwing additional confusion into the equation on St. Croix is the effect of the closure of the Hovensa refinery. One of the employee benefits at Hovensa was that the company paid for its employees’ children to attend one of the island’s private schools. With the company closing, many of those students remaining on the island will shift to the public schools. Molloy said he surveyed the island’s private and parochial schools and learned that at least 250 students will move to public schools next school year.
To accommodate them, the district has developed a plan to realign school boundaries, leveling off overpopulation of some schools, such as Ricardo Richards Elementary School.
Terry said there will be changes in bus schedules and routes to accommodate the changes, and the district is reaching out to parents, especially to those new to the public schools, to get them to enroll their children early.
