Government House Communications Director Richard Motta Jr. announced on behalf of the V.I. Disaster Recovery Office and Education Department Monday that the first phase of the Charlotte Amalie High School demolition began with the mobilization of contractor Grade-All Heavy Equipment last week.
Demolition efforts will start with Building “C” on the campus’s north end before moving to Building “B” and then “A.” In a press release issued Monday, ODR Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien said dust control and safety measures are in place and an archaeologist is on-site to comply with federal requirements.
“All the pieces are in place to launch the first major school reconstruction project on St. Thomas,” she said.
The $334 million design-build contract for CAHS was awarded to a joint venture of Consigli Construction and J. Benton Construction, according to a copy of the contract listed on the Property and Procurement Department website. The contract also awarded more than $120.5 million for the design and construction of the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School.
During a Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee meeting last week, Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet — who chairs the committee — pressed testifiers from the newly-minted School Construction and Maintenance Bureau and Education Department architect Chaneel Callwood about their thoughts on design-build contracts, which combine two services that are usually separate into one, during a discussion about the Arthur Richards K-8 School on St. Croix.
“Every design-build project in the Virgin Islands escalate by million,” he said. “WAPA was a design-build — the Vitol was a design-build. You guys agree with this design-build concept?”
Callwood said the practice is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
“There were a few projects where I felt it would help us because it allows us to start the construction before we finish the drawings. And we were at a point where we felt — Dr. [Wells-Hedrington] and I — we need a relief, we needed to start. So we did a few, but no more.”
Vialet said he understood the rationale but that design-builds haven’t worked for the territory.
An ODR spokesperson told the Source Monday that this phase of demolition shouldn’t have any impact on school operations and will finish before the end of 2025. The first phase is slated to cost $6.8 million. The remaining phases have not been finalized because designs are still in progress.
VITEMA Director Gives “Behind-The-Scenes” Look at Saturday Tsunami Advisory
Monday’s announcement about Charlotte Amalie High School came after an update from Daryl Jaschen, director of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency, who walked the public through the timeline of events on Saturday that led VITEMA to issue a tsunami advisory through its Alert VI notification system.
The advisory was triggered by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake at approximately 7:23 p.m. Saturday north of Honduras. Jaschen noted that the earthquake struck approximately 1,200 miles west of the U.S. Virgin Islands — roughly the same difference between St. Croix and Miami. Jaschen said VITEMA received the first notice from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at 7:36 p.m., and the tsunami advisory cancellation notice was received at 9:09 p.m.
“Now, for the U.S. Virgin Islands — and due to the fact that this is over one thousand miles away — by design, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center does not automatically pass the messages through,” he said. “We’ve been used to: you have an earthquake, then all of a sudden the message comes out, ‘no threat at all.’”
Jaschen said that if the earthquake happened within 186 miles of the territory — or 300 kilometers — a message would have automatically gone out indicating the magnitude of the earthquake and relevant information about the risk of a tsunami.
The initial notice received by VITEMA included predictions that a tsunami could reach St. Croix by 10:14 p.m. and St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island by 11:04 p.m., but Jaschen said the predictions did not include information about the height of waves or their duration. That information was received at approximately 8:29 p.m. and indicated waves of less than one foot over a six-hour period.
Jaschen said a few things would have happened if that forecast had been worse, including notification to Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and attempts to get the word out over the radio.
“But ultimately, if we need to evacuate, we would evacuate — we would do a siren sounding. I’d ask police, through [VIPD Commissioner Mario Brooks] to get on the radios, and … the voice boxes to go through the town to evacuate, and we’re trying to figure out how much time do you have,” he said, referencing the 1867 tsunami that hit the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1867 just ten minutes after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake. “So the education is trying to get up to an elevation of only 82 feet — not the top of Scenic Highway.”
Health Officials Address Dengue Outbreak, Bird Flu Surveillance
Nearly a week after the V.I. Health Department declared an outbreak of dengue fever, Territorial Epidemiologist Dr. Esther Ellis said the territory has confirmed 15 cases — all of them on St. Croix. Ellis said during Monday’s briefing that the “outbreak” means dengue is spreading faster than expected and urged Virgin Islanders to take precautions by mitigating standing water in their homes, repairing holes or tears in window screens, wearing long sleeves and using mosquito repellent when outside.
“This is important: if you believe you have dengue, please see your health care provider at the onset of these symptoms to get tested,” she said. “Testing is the only way we can accurately track the rate of dengue in our community.”
Ellis also updated the community on cases of H5N1 across the United States. Since 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed 66 human cases of H5N1 — commonly referred to as Bird Flu. Most cases were transmitted through direct contact with animals, she said.
“While the CDC assesses the overall public health risk as low, individuals with occupational or recreational exposure to birds or livestock should take extra precautions, such as wearing appropriate personal protective equipment — or PPE — to reduce the risk,” she said, recommending that people avoid direct contact with wild birds, sick or dead poultry or other sick animals.
There have been no confirmed cases of Bird Flu in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but Ellis said that H5N1 was detected recently in a backyard poultry flock on Culebra in Puerto Rico.
“The V.I. Agriculture Department does have the capacity to test all birds presented for export and all sick birds they encounter,” Ellis said. “So far, all testing has been negative.”
Police Call on Community After Eulalie Rivera Burglary
St. Croix’s Acting Police Chief Uston Cornelius called on members of the community who have information about the recent theft of industrial kitchen equipment from the Eulalie Rivera K-8 School to come forward.
“If you are the individuals that took the items, we are asking: leave it somewhere. Tell us where it is, and we will go and get it,” he said. “Restaurants, hotels: these items that were removed, they need a buyer. Please don’t purchase these items. Anyone comes to you telling you they have items to sell, these items are stolen from our elementary school, our youngsters — the future.”
Cornelius similarly implored shipping companies to refrain from shipping the stolen goods off island.
Last week’s break-in at Eulalie Rivera was not the first instance of a large-scale theft from a St. Croix school. In July 2023, thieves absconded with more than a hundred federally-funded solar panels sourced by the V.I. Energy Office for the St. Croix Educational Complex.
“In relations to the other investigations,” Cornelius said Monday, “we’re still following up leads. That is why we wanted to make sure we came back to the community and make sure they know we still need their help — especially with this one.”
