public schools

I don't feel like there is any bandwagon so don't worry about that. Others expressed the same view as me. And I hear it all the time from close friends and strangers alike, so I'm not worry that my views about the school system are wrong.

The only "proof" I could give that they hire people without degrees is to give out a friends name and well I'm not willing to do that. And frankly I think she does a great job so its not really a big point.

My main point in every post I made so far on this thread is if you have kids that are going to go to school here you MUST do a PMV.

Real nice post there rotorhead...I am sure If I look hard enough I can find pictures like that for just about any city in the US...hell the pictures and videos posted about FT Bragg conditions were just as bad if not worse....also in those pictures it states

"These are the filthy bathrooms at St. Croix Central High School"
I have clearly said I do not recommend that school.

What would fix the public schools...first and foremost people need to realize that academically your child will be fine...The more people deter anyone from trying them, the more our school suffer...Maybe some people don't make it here because they go above their means to put their child in private school because they are afraid of the big bad nasty public school system...then they can't enjoy the island because they are broke...Now if they were to try public school especially elementary they will realize...wow it's not so bad, and they are not breaking themselves financially.

Support for the schools would be nice...I would like to see the people here at least give our elementary schools a shot...especially Pearl B, Strawberry (i think it's Ricardo Richard) and Lew Muckle....

Once again

I DO NOT recommend Central High...for transplants...(I will probably put my daughter in private school next year if she doesn't not get into Complex)

Junior High...kind of tough for a transplant right off the bat...my daughter was fine though,
but a 6th grader moving here would be in elementary school, they would have that entire year with their friends and when it comes time to move to Jr High..they would be moving up with their friends thus making Jr High fine for them

Elementary school in my opinion is the best thing for transplants...they learn the culture and appreciate it, they learn not to fear the island. They learn that there are other things here besides jump up. They learn about all these sugar mills scattered around the island...(My daughter had to explain the sugar mills to a private school child that was living here for 5 years) My blond haired son walks around Sion Farm now like he is the king...Every where we go kids hail him up...he can tell you what Road march is.... He know the bands, He knows our local food, he knows what Quelbe is (How many here knows that is the official music of the Virgin Islands) he knows what quadrille even taken part in cultural dances.

As he grows up he will be more accepted in the culture because the locals will see that he took an interest in the island and culture. I have seen people here that "try" to say they care about our culture and want to be a part of it, but you never see them at any cultural events. But bring on jump up....it looks like a cruise ship came in.

My children will NOT be afraid to walk anywhere on this island.

Now I ask you...am I hurting my kids or making them stronger....

Anyone have any questions about the public schools...pm me....if you are coming on a PMV contact me...I will take anyone on this board and give them the Anthony Bourdain's local tour...we gon go for ah lime!

You ever hear the story about the kids who were accidentally labeled as “smart” or “dumb” and how their teacher’s expectations dramatically impacted their growth in the school year?

Classic story on self-fulfilling prophecies.

The quick version:

School in England. Computer program completely messes up the labeling of kids and literally puts the “smart” kids in the ‘dumb” class and the “dumb” kids in the “smart” class. Oops.

So, teachers start teaching the “smart” kids as if they’re smart and the “dumb” ones as if they’re dumb.

Fast forward 5 months.

They catch the error. And re-test the kids on IQ and other measures.

Guess what?

The truly smarter kids score significantly worse than before. The less intelligent kids? They improve dramatically.

Why?

As the teachers for the “dumb” kids said when asked to explain her teaching experience during the first few weeks of the term: “For some reason, our methods weren’t working,” they replied. “So we had to change our methods.”

Wow.

The data said that these kids were bright. So if things weren’t working, it had to be their teaching methods.

Imagine that.

When the kids had someone who totally believed in their abilities and potential and showered them with optimism and support, they grew.

And if they thought they weren’t too bright? They fulfilled that expectation as well.

VERY (very very very) powerful stuff.

greets

if i had stayed on island, my dawta would have been raised in the public schools.

but i would be raising hell to get things improved all the while.....being proactive.

now i realize that i lived there a time ago, but in betty's defense...even then i knew ones teaching with incomplete college degrees....i had three crucian friends that taught in the public schools (kindergarten and elementary), and none of them had completed degrees. of course, things might be different now, but it was a reality then.......

the thing that upsets me is that after those pics on crucians in focus of the bathrooms have been on line for the WORLD to see for over a month....has anyone done a physical check to see if the conditions are the same? if they are the same, then someone should be picketing government house and contacting the major networks on the continent to come check for it. shame is a powerful motivator. it is said that most of the schools are in a disarray as the pics depict.

blessings

Since NCLB that's just not so. Before 2000 you didn't need a complete degree in a few states across the country (especially high need areas). So maybe it took the VI a while to get on board, but they're there... and the teachers that aren't qualified are required to catch up. Honestly, I'm in the process of moving and trying to teach there. I know folks, so it's not a connection issue, it's just not happening now. They have to either qualify or you can't teach... Dan, while doing you pmv, investigate it yourself, you will see.

I'm in no way trying to advocate for VI public schools because based on the consensus my child will not be attending, like I said, just want the poster to have the facts.

More about homeschooling... I know a few children fortunate enough to be homeschooling while their parents are working (another mom, really good at it, did it for them, for payment), I'm wondering if there are folks out there like that??

Yearasta, I'm glad to hear that all is not terrible. I will do my investigation (thoroughly) when I am a resident.

hey chris i have a friend that teaches advanced math at central,she's been there for 16 years and loves it,but the ladies i worked with at my old 12mile job always said never hire kids from central,so who knows

Wow!! This is a very heated debate!! The one post said it all for me. "Whats right for us may be all wrong for you." We will be on island for 5 days. Not enough time to do all we want to. With all this feedback it looks like we will spend most of our time checking out the schools. Yearasta, I will be in touch and take you up on the tour. Thanks to all again!!

A degree to teach school is a kind of admission card to the "system".
Nothing more.
It in no way means a person is able to teach anything to any person!
I had many teachers with a degree that couldn't teach squat. Yet they were graduated and licensed to teach.
I also had a few that were truly inspiring.
I was also fortunate to be in a school that brought local experts in some really high tech fields to lecture for a day or sometimes more and I learned a great deal from them. One for example a chemist working daily in a research at WPAFB - the center of the high tech world - that legally wasn't "qualified" to teach in a public school system.
I personally taught adult ed evening classes. My retention rate was nearly 100%. This is a good way to measure performance in adult ed where they don't have to stay - you have to provide a class room that held their interest.
I would be more concerned about the attitude of management - all attitude flows down hill.

My 2 cents....

I agree I had many college professors who were degreed up the wazoo and knew their stuf BUT COULD NOT TEACH or pass on information or clarify stuff

Thats kinda a no brainer. There are people that are bad at their jobs in every field, why would teaching be different?

Thats kinda a no brainer. There are people that are bad at their jobs in every field, why would teaching be different?

I think the ill effect of an incompetent teacher are potentially much more devastating than get a bad paint job .......

I have to agree Michaelds9. Our son suffered greatly because of the incompetent teacher he had. Sadly she is still "teaching".

Ok guys perhaps we need to clarify. Just what makes a " good school system".

I really would appreciate some responses
Thanks

I would think that a good school system would not be top heavy with administration and would have merit-based pay. Also there would be accountability to a board or superintendant.

I disagree. I think a bad doctor can probably do the most harm. You have to realize as an adult there are going to be people that are bad at their job. If its something important like you say the teacher is you need to check up on them. If they are not performing well you "fire" them, don't go back to them, or as in your case you changed schools. You can not expect to not have difficulties in life, & you can't expect anyone to be a saint or perfect in this world. At the same time its not the end of the world. Adversity teaches us much more. We've all had bad teachers for most of us it taught us something.

Just because someones a teacher doesn't mean they are or want to be a saint. When I was in college what I always heard being studying to be teachers was that they wanted summers & holidays off. So I know they are some wonderful people drawn the the field but I also know there are some very lazy people drawn to it as well.

Like I said its a no brainer.

Betty, what are you disagreeing with? I agreed with Michaelds9 that an incompetent teacher was worse than a bad paint job. :S

A doctor tells a parent to give his/her child medicine every 4 hours and have the child drink plenty of liquids. The parent is lackadaisical and gives the medicine only half of the time and doesn't think drinking the plenty of liquids is necessary. The child fails to get well. Who is at fault?

:S

Adversity can teach many things.
I hope one of them is not a lousy teacher can so turn a child off on going to school that it becomes a life long problem.
Who gets to go back to grade school to do it over?
I am not commenting on VI schools but all schools everywhere.

In the interest of civility on this board I will simply agree with this statement

.....................................

Like I said its a no brainer.

Yet people blame the teacher if the child does not do well because they do no homework, do not listen in class, comes to school ill prepared, no pencils books pens textbooks. Curious

I ran the computers for the health building for a technical college back in the mid-90s. One of the teachers that taught the computer hardware class left, and I asked if I could take over teaching for it, as I know hardware very well - it's actually pretty easy stuff. I was told I could not teach because I did not have any sort of degree - if I had so much as a bachelors in anything, they would have put me in that position.

The professor in charge of all computers at this tech college once told me, "I wish I knew half of what you know."

/37 years of computing - yeah, my dad had a Cogar Mini that his programmer, Eddie, made games on for me to play
//Eddie co-designed the first prototype Ethernet boards
///mum cracked the IRS certified tamper-proof Monroe Sweda cash registers so my dad could steal money from the IRS - took her 15 minutes
////bows to Vic, he knows his sh!t

My first step in fixing the schools...

Get Truant Officers, and enforce/enact laws that hold parents accountable for too many absences

I know lots of public school teachers and principals ..good people FIRE everybody above them and hire from the states, because this last change in the senate doesn't fix the corruption problems for me and until it's straightened out..bring people in...our school conditions are crap but we are returning millions of dollars in unused money...I don't get it...obviously neither do they

During the summer...times like now...take the minimum security prisoners to the schools...paint them clean them fix them

But that's just me

Yet people blame the teacher if the child does not do well because they do no homework, do not listen in class, comes to school ill prepared, no pencils books pens textbooks. Curious

I absolutely agree!
Students must be prepared and motivated to learn.
Teachers need to be able and motivated to teach.
As I said earlier all attitude flows down hill.
If the supervisors AND parents are setting a bad tone it's very difficult for the teaching staff maintain a positive outlook.

Yerasta you are so right. You have to get the kids there and keep them there and as you said hold the parents responsible. I always wondered why the incarcerated are hanging out , watching TV and not working. In Hawaii on Oahu every morning on the way to work in Honolulu I would see parishioners cutting bush and mowing the sides of the highway and picking up litter. Why not?
My kids are grown up and the only school I was involved with was Academy of the West Indies soI have no exposure with the public side but my criteria when choosing my senators was their plans and opinions about education and the schools. Sanes, O'Riely and Nelson had positive attitudes about education but I haven't heard much discussion. Summer maintenance was so last minute last year and promised repairs aren't happening. SOS. Some how the parents and all of us have to motivate these elected officials.
All we get is blah, blah,blah and we see no progress, just more SUV's and govt employees who run their own business on our time and free books from the governor. I have no idea what the solution is other than public outrage.

While I'm ranting. How come every other state govt is downsizing as a result of the recession and the VI just borrows more money. How about dedicating the property tax revenue to the schools. ey yi yi.

Well since the elected officials aren't getting involved why don't we? Come on people you can all paint. Let's clean up our schools. The problem is not with the teachers. It is the condition of the schools. You all want to save the animals here on island why not put that same effort to improving the schools. We can do it and embarrass those same elected officials who aren't doing anything. What do you say?