USVI Schools

Yeah, I would admit that the other islands have a much more rigorous education system than the USVI. The British system is much more strict and disciplined than the American one. I just wanted to clarify that there were a good bit of native USVIers in prestigious unversities.

Maybe the public high schools should make ROTC a required course. Nothing like a drill sargeant to thump some lessons on acceptable behavior and understanding of consequences into young minds. One of the better options for a bright future that many young islanders have would be through military service, so ROTC would be a good intro to show these young people one option open to them. There are so many other required courses, some of them also vocational in nature, that this could be a very good thing for many of the youth to take at least for one year.

I have spoken in defense of public schools in the USVI a few times on this board. We who reside in the USVI are all stakeholders of the USVI Department of Education. We are all a part of the same system. Many of us seem to always view our public school systems in a negative light, and when we do this we are really pointing fingers at ourselves. We are all impacted by the system. Whether or not we decide to send our children to a public school is a choice that some parents and students do not have. Every community/public school system that I have experienced (with and without resources) have stimulated frustration, disappointment, and outrage from its community. Everyday, students (our future), teachers, and administrators come to school and spend up to 7.5 hours a day where learning,teaching and administrating take place despite the conditions. I think it is safe to say that there is only a small percentage of stakeholders that invest in a significant way in the children who attend these schools. Yes there are groups of people who are always there for the children (thank GOD). I have found that sometimes you might find a public school with what may be considered the worst conditions producing the most successful outcomes, and generally a school such as this has support from the community stakeholders including parents, retirees, small businesses, corporations, churches, alumni, politicians, universities, linking agencies and so on. Unfortunately,l every child does not benefit from the efforts of these contributions from others. Yes - it is important that we inform our community about the status of public schools in a community but why can't we take the alternative approach and offer suggestions, time, resources, life experiences, donations, and creative opportunities for our children. Face it-- that is what it might take to address many of the issues facing the USVI Public School System. Yes we can see that there are what seems to be countless deficiencies from the top to the bottom in the USVI Dept of Education, but change can and will occur even though things appear hopeless. Look at the civil rights movement. With or without the valuable investment of the stake holding community the students will still attend the public schools of the USVI, they will learn despite the odds, many will achieve success, and many will go on to pursue post-secondary education. Lets also not be so naive to assume that there is not two sides to very coin. Public schools do not get much positive press anywhere. There are lots of good noteworthy events that occur in the public schools in the USVI. Perhaps we can build on the good and make it better and share the good with the bad. I think that is only fair to those who don't have the same choices.

Alexandra, how interesting you would bring this up, as I JUST a couple of days ago had a conversation with a group of locals on the Kmart parking lot regarding the reinstitution of the draft, making it mandatory for anyone 18 years old for two years. Let's face it, for many that first year of college is a lost cause...may as well spend that time growing up in a real world where your boss tells you to do something and you do it and don't stand and glare and suck your teeth at him. This group of approximatey 8-10 islanders were disgusted with the condition of the parking lot on a Sunday morning and were picking up trash. They weren't employees, just good citizens who are truly concerned about their island, and lamenting the fact that the educational system leaves so much to be desired that it produces a bunch of miscreants who can't even pick up after themselves. Meanwhile, the little cretins looked on and pointed and laughed. Maybe ROTC is a good start.

Before everyone jumps on their political bandwagon, I have no agenda...I have no children here. I only know what I see and what I hear, and unfortunately, I have to agree....for kids stateside and in the USVI, a big dose of growing up is in order. Yes, there are great kids out there...and yes, only we as the adults in the group can produce change in schools and in life in general. But age does not make you an adult, and it appears if kids are being run out of the schools by the adult supervisory staff, something is terribly amiss. Maybe the adults need to go to ROTC too.

What about Magnet schools like we have here in the states? Schools that are public and free, but the students must pass testing to gain acceptance. Children who are bright and/or from homes where the parents care enough to prepare their child for the test will gain admission. It is a way of segregating those from caring families from those who come from families who don't care. Downsides are that kids from caring families with learnding differences may not gain admission AND the remainder of the public schools will worsen because those old publics will lose the few caring familes they had. I guess it may not work on such a small island. Maybe a charter school is a betetr idea - something in the $5-$6kk yr range.....not free, so you'll weed out the "don't give a crap about education" families ...but not the mortgage payment that Antilles gets each month.

Have you thought about the fact that children do not get to pick their families. Some children wind up with families that "don't give a crap about education". I personally would feel a little unconfortable with schools whos intent were to weed out and segregate children who happen to have families that may percieved as ones that don't care. How will that type of family be determined who would create the legal critieria?

Melody
I have been reading your posts over the past year. It is good to hear that your first year teaching in the public schools on St Croix has not "burned you out".

It would be wonderful (maybe start a new thread) if you could share some of your positive experiences. We know that realistically it has not been all smooth sailing. You seem to have a positive attitude and have a need to defend against strong criticism. we also know that some people have had very bad experiences in the USVI schools. Most people posting here do not have first hand knowledge of the USVI schools. We need to listen to those who do.

The local newspapers give us some positive school news, but they really play up the violence. Most have never set foot on a public school campus during school hours.

I wish you the best in your school career on St Croix and hope it is long enough to make a positive impact.

Please share.

Melody, it isn't that basic. You don't create schools for that purpose, but that is the end result. No one would legislate to create a school for the sake of weeding out. But, when schools charge a tuition, especially a hefty one, that is the result. Even children from poor families can gain admission, but their parents have to care enough to apply, visit, show up at parent interviews, bring their child to the entrance exam, etc. Public schools are just a matter of sign up and show up for many folks, unfortunately. Once you create an environment where admission takes WORK on the part of the parent, you weed out.

And no, children do not get to pick their parents, but you can't make it work out for everyone. Eventually, you become paralyzed because you try to save each and every child and you wind up not saving any becasue you can't save them all.

Nice children sometimes wind up with horrible parents. It would be ideal if teachers in the public school system would recognize talented public school children and refer them to the other programs. But, if the USVI publics are in such poor share, I doubt that would happen.

Once you create a school with a formal and strict entrance criteria, you weed out. You also create an environment where behavior problems are removed. What I am suggesting is that you can do that with a reasonable tuition or make it free. It works here....so I am not sure why it wouldn't work there.

Here is the link to one of Philadelphia's top public schools - with a strict entrance criteria and a graduating class full of top college bound seniors each year....kids from the city, from poor families, from broken homes.....but SMART, well behaved, interested, focused, goal-oriented kids. Everyone with a clue tries to gain admission...even the wealtiest families whose kids have been in expensive private schools up to this point. http://www.centralhigh.net/

Philadelphia has a very bad school system. We use Magnet public schools to address that. It gives the ambitious kids another tuition-free option . Here's the link to one of the other Magnets that starts in grade 5. http://www.masterman.phila.k12.pa.us/about/index.php

Government incompetence and mismanagement is a definite factor in holding back quality improvements in the public schools. IIRC, the USVI gov't sent back more than $2 million dollars in completely unrestricted federal grants -- more per student returned than anywhere else in the country, simply because the grant program seemingly had no competent management whatsoever. To me, that is simply criminal and the administration responsible for missing that opportunity should have been impeached as soon as that news came out, if not banned from any government service at any level forever.

It also seems to take forever to hire teachers, again apparently due to pure bureaucratic incompetence/lack of a sense of accountability/bad priority setting. We've heard too many stories of certified teaches applying and not hearing anything at all for ages, if ever. Again, it's criminal negligence in my book, and the people in charge need to be canned.

I believe that having an elected school board that would take over management of the school system to get it out from under the "control" of the governor, who has left the schools in shambles (see the recent Avis article about a school that is essentially as sewer -- no water, no power. no bathrooms yet still in use for summer school classes. Having seen the complete overthrow of an unaccountable elected board in several areas after voter disagreement with decisions on school policy, this would appear to be a better way to get those responsible off their backsides and onto their toes.

I am constantly delighted to see how activist may of the parents and students are down here when it comes to dogging TPTB about school quality. In the past two years I have seen rallies, accountability sessions with gov't officials, petition drives, student walkouts, and one of my favorite tactics, even if it is more for PR than actual policy progress: parents from STT followed the governor to STX when he tried to sneak over here for his birthday celebration and protested/picketed across the street from the party even though it meant standing in pouring rain for several hours. As a retired professional grassroots organizer, I would have done anything to get folks with that much dedication to work on the issues I organized around. My heart is just so proud of the community commitment to making change, and I believe with everything I have that they will persevere. Don't think it's as hopeless as it may seem.

--HC (who has no kids of her own but is happy to pay taxes for public schools so we can give our communities and kids everything they need to thrive.)

Ahhhh HipCrip,

You say it best! I am so glad you post!

I am sorry to say, on this post of all posts, that I give up. We are leaving island, for more than just one reason, but definitely to get my kids in a better school district. We simply can not afford private school, but can afford more on the mainland including tutoring which is much needed for my daughter. I am absolutely in tears to leave behind so many friends, but we are moving on. I do hope that with a new governor they find a leader who is dedicated to making the schools the best in the Caribbean. I am positive that the person who leads this cause will have many follow and pushing for much needed immediate changes. To me it seems that the Virgin Islands are on the brink of change. Usually that is when the chaos seems it's worst, but everyone seems to be recognizing the problems and that is half the battle. Now the V.I. just needs good leadership to make it happen.

Teresa