Parent Seeks Court Order Blocking DOE Transfer of Minor Arrested in St. Thomas Bomb Threat Case
The parent of one of the minors arrested in connection with a slew of bomb threats on St. Thomas public schools has asked the court to issue an injunction preventing the child from being transferred from their current school to an alternative education program.
2025-12-23 20:05:49 - VI News Staff
The complaint, filed on Sunday in the Superior Court, names Commissioner of the Department of Education Dionne Wells-Hedrington as the sole defendant. It claims that after the minor was arrested for delinquency in connection with a bomb threat at Charlotte Amalie High School, the commissioner signed a letter addressed to his mother, informing her that the child had been assigned to the Edith Williams Alternative Academy once he was released from detention.
This assignment was reportedly conditional upon the minor writing a letter of apology for the threat they are accused of making. The apology, Wells-Hedrington reportedly stipulated, must be a “one page, single-spaced type-written and signed” document, according to the complaint, addressed to “the school principal and school community affected by the bomb threats.”
Despite the letter reportedly having been signed on December 9, the child's mother had apparently not received it by the 15th. The lawyer assigned to the minor had seen a copy of the document a few days prior, however, and advised the parent to have the child return to their normal school once they had returned home. On Monday December 15, the mother did so, but the child was refused entry. An assistant principal told them that the school would not allow the minor to return until they had “obtained guidance from the commissioner,” the lawsuit says.
The mother was then summoned to a meeting in Commissioner Wells-Hedrington's office, at which she was reportedly told by the commissioner's chief of staff that a “final” decision had been made to transfer the child to the Alternative Academy until their court proceedings were completed. The Academy had reportedly already been alerted, as the mother received a call inviting her and the child to an orientation session in preparation for their attendance in January.