Charlotte Amalie High (CAHS) School has closed off the eastern portion of Building B, which houses 15 classrooms, due to structural defects. (see photo). The school is scheduled to open on Thursday, Sept. 27, with a contingency plan to accommodate the loss of classrooms, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Acting Commissioner of the V.I. Department of Education (DOE) Dionne Wells-Hedrington.
The acting commissioner detailed the contingency plan at a press conference hosted by Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp, held on Monday, Sept. 24. “The administration of Charlotte Amalie has arranged for teachers to share classrooms in the interim,” she said.
Due to damages sustained during hurricanes Irma and Maria, coupled with deferred maintenance, an engineering team recommended that the DOE cordon off and abandon all levels of the eastern section of Building B, including the perimeter on the southern side where concrete is dropping from the roof’s edge to the ground below.
Building B is made up of two adjoining buildings: the western two-story section, which is a newer addition, and the eastern 3-story section. Fifteen classrooms are lost as a result of the closure.
Teachers at CAHS are assigned classrooms for the course of the school year. High schools in the territory are on a four-class block schedule; however, teachers do not teach four classes a day. The contingency plan calls for teachers who are displaced from building B to utilize available rooms at times when those teachers with assigned classrooms have their “prep” periods.
Wells-Hedrington clarified that the new plan to share classrooms is not a double session schedule. Furthermore, all available courses will still be offered at the school and no student’s schedule will change.
DOE is currently working on a public assistance request package with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to purchase additional modular units to supplement the number of classrooms lost.
At the press conference, the governor also announced that air quality tests are ongoing in schools. Adcon Environmental Services and Environmental Concepts (ENCON) will perform air quality tests in public schools across the territory and results will be published on the DOE’s website as they become available.
In addition to Charlotte Amalie High School in the St. Thomas-St. John District, the Lockhart Elementary, Joseph Gomez Elementary, Yvonne E. Milliner-Bowsky Elementary schools and the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School will also open for instruction on Thursday, Sept. 27.
