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I wanted to continue this from the previous site:
The situation: My family is one seven year old, myself (an art teacher) my wife (media specialist /school librarian) are contemplating the move. We will be back down there in a couple of months and I want to get as many perspective as I can on the above topics.
I read (posted by New Teacher-Suzanne B-Islander) comments on schools. Public vs. Private. I have taught only in public schools. I have taught in both "bad" schools and "good" schools. I have had my own child in both public and private. I look at my students and I see kids who either want to learn or don't. The one's that want to learn -do, the one's that don't want to learn-will, when I am done with them. That is part of the job. For them, as well as the teachers-and everyone else: it's what you do with what you've got.
Having said that, from others perspective, my first question: What do you see as being the difference between public and private schools down there? That seems to be an issue based on what I read at postings from the other site.If not so much from a parent's perspective- a child's - or a teacher's.
Is there anyone out there who can give me specifics on transfering from somewhere else? I have questions like :
How many years will they transfer?
Is there a retirement system set up? Healthcare?
I can go to a site and find out what jobs are possibly going to open- but I'd love to have some conversation with an actual teacher- even better an art teacher or librarian.
Is there a lot of teacher turnover? Many areas will hire their own and they will sit in their position untill they retire.
Where I am at there is preference based on race. It's not written down, but it is understood. If you are "black" they love you because there are not many "black" teachers. We are "white", since the bulk of the children are not, and I would assume teachers are not- in what manner are "white" teachers perceived?
Is the government very supportive of education? Are educators held with any great reguard? I love to teach high school. There are what two or three public high schools. When we are down there, could I just go to them, and drop of a resume?
What about school safety? There are fights everyday where I teach. There are gangs. Not too scary though. What is it like there?
Thes are scattered questions- and not in essay form, but please respond.I would love any and all input on this. Thanks in advance for your time!
Posted : January 29, 2004 2:56 pm
Hello Titus, welcome to the new moving site!!
I will try and respond to your comments. Your first comment was about public vs. private and kids succeeding if they have the drive to do so. I think the original post you referenced where I recomended private school for junior high students was misunderstand or mispresented. I agree with you that a students drive to learn has a great deal to do with things however if your school environment is somewhat stressful and a great number of students serve as large distraction your drive to learn may wane. But absolutely there are children that go through these schools and do very well.
The difference I see between public and private schools on St. Thomas is perhaps in the absence (in private schools) of the bureaucracy that is equated with any governement office or department. The private schools also in some cases offer greater oppurtunities for out of the classroom experiences so giving students a more complete and well rounded education.
Visit http://www.artbylucinda.com/ and contact this artist I believe she is/was an art teacher or has private art classes and also owned a gallery so might be a great person for you to get in touch with, see if her site has an e-mail.
There is a fair amount of teacher turnover as postitions are always being posted, however there are also a good amount of people who have been there for years and years and are waiting for retirement as you said.
As for your race question - if you taught in a public school it is quite possiable you could have classes entirely made up of black students. In private schools you could figure a greater variety of backgrounds. As for teachers - in my experience on St. Thomas - from K-12 I had about the same number of white teachers as I did black. In general though there are more black teachers but there are also quite a few white ones.
Government supportive of education - well yes but.... you need to read more about USVI politics. Educators are held with regards yes but again politics... Take a look under Education on this site there is a list of schools with numbers and web sites if they have them. If you are applying to public schools you need to visit the dept. of education web site and go through them to apply for placement in USVI public schools - visit the employement section on this site the link is there. You might also look at the private schools.
There are fights at public schools here, there are "gangs - groups". These start forming in Junior high it seems - one of the reasons I mentioned negative school environment climate in the first paragraph.
Hope that helps some - if you have more questions feel free to post.
--Islander
Post Edited (01-30-04 23:44)
Posted : January 30, 2004 7:52 am
Topic starter
Isander,
Thank you so much for this information. It is like gold to me . The service you provide here is incredible. Thank you for the insight. I am sorry for the long e-mail and the multiple questions.
I understand the differences between public and private much better now (I may have misunderstood a previous posting) In contrast, here- because there is $ on the part of parents- many times the students who cause problems end up in private because they have been expelled from public. We have anabundance of private schools because they get government funding to a certain extent. It may just be that I would prefer one over the other down there. Here they are about the same on many levels. Except salary. They both have politics in common as well. I will study more on USVI politics.
I will contact the artist you suggested, thank you for pointing me in that direction.
I also feel like I have a little better understanding of the black / white issue as it pertains to education. It would seem that in both private and public schools there are black and white teachers-but the student population in the public sector is predominently black.
Thank you again Islander, I will use this board when I need to!
Posted : January 30, 2004 2:55 pm
You might contact the librarian at the Enid Baa Library 340- 774-0630 for more information and contacts in the library world... Also spend some time reading the on line newspapers: www.virginislandsdailynews.com and www.onepaper.com (The Source) for background information and goings-on in the VI!
Posted : January 31, 2004 2:50 pm
