Alexander Henderson Elementary School on St. Croix was dismissed early Friday morning after school officials discovered several classrooms were vandalized during a break-in the night before, according to the V.I. Education Department.
Deputy St. Croix Superintendent Janine Schuster said in a statement the vandals came in through the roof above at least 10 classrooms. Students were relocated to other parts of the campus after it was found that fiberglass in the ceiling was dislodged, causing a possible safety hazard. Classes were dismissed shortly afterward as a precaution.
According to the department, Schuster and a maintenance team worked throughout the morning on cleaning and securing the classrooms and campus. School officials are working with the V.I. Police Department and Office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration teams on launching an investigation.
“It is abhorrent that our schools and students continue to be targeted by criminals looking to steal what they can from our classrooms,” Education Commissioner Donna Frett-Gregory said Friday. “In this instance, we were fortunate to have suffered few losses in terms of equipment, but once again, we are now responsible for making repairs to our facilities that we can ill-afford with our limited resources, and figuring out how to cover the instructional time lost because of today’s incident. It is not acceptable, and I encourage anyone in our community with information about the Henderson break-in to report it immediately to the proper authorities. We must stand together against this kind of activity.”
Schuster said Friday that crews will be working throughout the weekend to ensure that the campus is ready to open Monday; any updates will be announced and posted to the department’s website and Facebook page.
