The V.I Board of Education approved the final School Plants and Facilities Report and a memorandum of agreement with the V.I. Department of Education at a brief meeting Saturday in which those were the only two items on the agenda.
Neither report will be available for the public until next week, according to Terrence Joseph, board secretary, who chaired the meeting.
The MOA between the board and Department of Education will allow the hiring of teachers who have been certified in the United States, but not necessarily in the Virgin Islands – a “reciprocity” agreement, Joseph said. The MOA was requested by the department due to a shortage of teachers.
The V.I. school system, along with other government agencies, have sustained budget cuts and a hiring freeze over the last two years. In March, then-Education Commissioner LaVerne Terry told the board there were 159 unfilled positions throughout the system, including teachers and support staff.
In a July budget hearing, acting Commissioner Donna Frett-Gregory told the senate hiring was difficult because of the territory’s high cost of living relative to salaries.
Also in July, the board was asked to relax requirements to allow teachers to be hired who had not completed their certification. That proposal was tabled. Saturday’s MOA recognizes teacher certifications from outside the territory.
The second document approved by the board was the School Plants and Facilities Report, submitted annually to the Department of Education, the Legislature and the governor. During the year, board members inspect the facilities and equipment at all the territory’s public schools. The curriculum and the attitude of school personnel when greeting visitors and parents are reviewed, Joseph said. The board also follows up on previous recommendations and reviews the school’s plans for the summer. Recommendations for improvements are made by the board and included in the report.
“It is a comprehensive report that basically outlined the committee’s report,” Judy Gomez, board member, said. “Our schools will basically run in a more effective and efficient manner.
Before voting on the documents, each board member was allowed time to make comments or corrections. Most said they had studied and approved of both documents and commended members and staff for their work. A few typographical and punctuation errors were pointed out. Both documents were approved with corrections.
The meeting, held by videoconference on St. Croix and St. Thomas, was attended by board members Joseph, attorneys Martial Webster, Nandi Sekou and Judy Gomez, Judge Debra Smith-Watlington and members Mary Moorhead and Arah Lockhart. Legal counsel Devin Carrington and Carol Henneman, executive director, also attended. Board chair Oswin Sewer, Sr., and board member Winona Hendricks were absent.
