Nearly 200 Public School Students Dropped Out in 2019-2020 School Year as Continuous Crises Stress the Education and Mental Health of Children

The U.S. Virgin Islands since 2017 has suffered successive crises that continue to greatly impact the territory's youth, according to the Kids Count USVI 2021 data book. The book is published by the St. Croix Foundation annually and gives a look into the state of the territory's children in key areas affecting their development.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the USVI in 2017, which negatively impacted children. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic which started in March 2020 compounded the situation. According to the latest data book, which was released Wednesday evening at a virtual meeting organized by the St. Croix Foundation, during the 2019-2020 school year, 191 students in grades 7 through 12 dropped out of the public school system. During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the world went into lockdown, children in homes without internet access suffered the most.

Even so, the dropout numbers are similar to the prior school year's rate, when 161 students dropped out of the public school system.

Dropout rate per grade, beginning at the ninth grade:

9th grade: 51 students dropped out in the 2019-2020 school year, compared to 55 during the 2018-2019 SY

10th grade: 42 students dropped out in the 2019-2020 school year, compared to 45 during the 2018-2019 SY

11th grade: 50 students dropped out in the 2019-2020 school year, compared to 33 in the 2018-2019 SY

12th grade: 38 students dropped out in the 2019-2020 school year, compared to 31 in the 2018-2019 SY.

The data book showed a wide race divide, with black students representing 65 percent or 125 students who dropped out, followed by Hispanic students with 32 percent or 61 students, white students with 2 percent or 4 students, and other races representing 1 percent or 1 student. About 76 percent of the USVI population is black.

The graduation rate increased to 71 percent during the 2019-2020 school year compared to 62 percent in the prior years 2017-2018, and 2018-2019, according to the data book. Part of the reason for the increase was the lowered criteria for graduation, as the V.I. Dept. of Education took into consideration the toll of the Covid-19 pandemic.