Education officials weather questions on maintenance, reporting of abuse

ST. CROIX — Virgin Islands Education Department leaders faced tough questioning from lawmakers days after a student was seriously injured in class.

Last week’s incident at the St. Croix Educational Complex, during which a falling ceiling fan sent one student to the hospital, loomed over the proceedings. Sen. Marise James, who chairs the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee, acknowledged that incident during her opening remarks and appeared to ask her colleagues to forego grandstanding in favor of efficiency and solutions-finding, saying the schools’ conditions are not new to anyone in the room.

“So we’re not going to pretend like it’s brand new,” she said. “We’re not going to be all outraged because it happened. Because we know it’s been existing — we’ve been hearing these complaints for years and years and years.”

Frustrations about school conditions were palpable in the several of the testimonies heard on Monday. Leaders from St. Croix parent teacher associations and organizations raised a number of long-standing issues like pervasive mold, overheated classrooms, pest infestations and leaks. Not all of the issues were related to maintenance — shortages of critical staff and supplies and the Education Department’s communication processes were also criticized.