Senators on a school tour Tuesday were overall “pleased” with what they saw, but identified two major issues: no system for reporting problems such as mold, which is affecting several campuses territory wide, and a long procurement process for securing vendors to fix those issues, which also causes delays in repairs.
Leading the tour through St. Thomas Monday, Sen. Jean Forde said his office has continued to field complaints from teachers, parents and even students, particularly those from Lockhart Elementary School and Charlotte Amalie High School. The Senate’s Education, Youth and Recreation Committee hadn’t gotten a chance to visit the campuses since repairs started, and with a firsthand account of what’s happening can hold the proper officials accountable and can advocate for funding, he said.
Joining the tour were members of the Board of Education, Parent Teacher Association representatives and even senators not on the committee who were eager to get a glimpse into the classrooms. Ulla F. Muller Elementary, the first stop on Tuesday’s tour, was in the best shape, with principal Symra Dee Brown saying that roof repairs and other fixes have been ongoing since the storm.
The school lost its old modulars, which housed the music and Spanish classes, on the back end of the property. Since the field on which the modulars sit are in a flood zone, they were not slated for permanent repairs, but Education Department Chief of Staff Anthony Thomas said that new federal guidelines could free up funding for pre-storm, deferred maintenance and other permanent repairs starting Nov. 1, when a new set of evaluations will start and continue for another nine to 12 months.
CAHS raised the most concerns for the touring group Tuesday. Principal Alcede Edwards said that despite the complaints pouring into senators, he hasn’t received any formal reports about mold on the campus, except for two adults he said were “allergic” or hypersensitive to dust.
“There’s no obvious visual mold,” he said to Forde, who spoke about two complaints he received in the past week – one from a parent, and one from a student who both said they were affected while on campus.
Edwards said he’s not trying to hide a mold issue if there is one, but was confronted later by Forde who, after speaking with the school’s librarian, said that other faculty on campus have the same complaint. Edward’s response was that the Senate buildings also have a lot of mold, to which Thomas – after taking Forde outside so the now heated conversation wouldn’t disturb students studying – said there’s a difference between actual mold and people who are extra sensitive to mold issues.
Either way, the Education Department doesn’t take mold lightly and is working with two environmental companies – one in each district – to conduct air quality testing. Starting first with Woodson on St. Croix, those results will be publicized on the department’s website, and Thomas said the number of complaints coming in from the schools about mold would likely trigger a retest every 30 days or so.
Instead of picking up a phone and calling a senator, however, Thomas advocated for residents to tell their school principals, who would then report it to the district Superintendent’s Office, which can then pass it along to the environmental companies.
“I really don’t think the structure is there for reporting complaints,” Forde said after his back and forth Monday with Edwards. “Things are clearly not being logged appropriately.”
Even more of an issue for CAHS is the loss of Building B, which government officials announced last month is crumbling and has since been condemned. Classrooms have been condensed to replace the 30 lost, but that has left many without proper internet and with furniture that has to be shifted, Edwards said.
Speaking later, Thomas added that with many buildings more than 60 years old and built from “sea sand,” he expects similar complaints from other schools in the future. The good news, he repeated, is that federal funding can be used in the future to build whole new campuses, but that’s after another evaluation process and a determination by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the damages meet the threshold for rebuilding.
In the meantime, St. Thomas-St. John Superintendent Dionne Wells-Hedrington said there is a process for identifying structural issues and the need for repairs, but that is also lengthy. Staff members on campus would first report the problem – like they did with the CAHS Building B – to the principal, who would report to the Superintendent’s Office, which would notify the Department’s engineers, who would go in and evaluate and contact the Superintendent’s Office if outside help is needed.
If outside help is needed, the department would then have to go through Property and Procurement to secure a vendor.
“Patience is the key,” Thomas said. “If we do it right, then FEMA will reimburse us, and that’s pretty important.”
From the tour, senators also learned:
– $8.5 million was spent to replace every textbook in the territory (some schools are still waiting on boxes to come in, and, since reopening, have been using other resources.)
– $1 million has been given for the replacement of school instruments.
– Jane E. Tuitt Elementary has covered classroom supplies and other resources through private sponsors such as Rotary International, and is in need of more teachers for electives.
– Many schools are either near or at capacity and expect more students in upcoming weeks as families who relocated after last year’s hurricanes begin to move back.
On a positive note, Wells-Hedrington said Addelita Cancryn Junior High should still make its new opening date of Oct. 15.
“The work is still ongoing. Right now they are working on ramps and pouring over walkways, but we were able to tour this week and I’m optimistic we’re going to meet our deadline,” she said.
Cancryn will be the last school to open on St. Thomas-St. John.
Most of the schools i have been to are not maintained. The classrooms are not painted, floors have been waxed but never swept prior to waxing,ceiling have no tile, walls are cracking, ac aren’t working, and yards are unkept. I have seen the new modulars at different schools and they are quite nice but safety wise there is only one door to the classroom in case of an emergency. I would like to think that the modulars are temporary, but I know better. The government does not maintain it’s assets, and that is sad. They want more but they can take care of what they have. Suggestion. Set up a Capital improvement fund for maintenance, repairs and improvements. Maintenance should be ongoing, not when there is a crisis. These islands are beautiful but they are not cared for. It will only be a matter of time before the islands starts looking like the slum of the Caribbean instead of the jewel that it is.