Education Plagued By Potential Vacancies

The Virgin Islands Education Department lost 77 key employees during the last school year and another 332 were eligible for retirement before the start of the upcoming school year, officials told the Legislature Monday.

From Oct. 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024, at least 53 department employees left the St. Croix school district, and 25 left the St. Thomas-St. John district, said Education Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington at a meeting of the Senate’s Committee on Budget, Finance and Appropriations.

Although nearly 15 percent of Education Department employees will be eligible for retirement Sept. 1, only 23 of the 77 who left in the 2023 school year — 29 percent — retired. The vast majority of those who left the department resigned, many seeking work in a different area of government, Wells-Hedrington said. One employee was fired and two died.