June 15, 2002 – Officials from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which pulled the accreditation of three of the territory's public high schools in April, will decline to answer questions at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, but have agreed to do so at a private meeting the day before, Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste said Friday. He said the gist of the meeting would be made public later.
Jn Baptiste was informed by letter last week that Middle States associate director Mary Ann Keeley would represent the association at the hearing, and that she would confine her remarks to a prepared statement.
Jn Baptiste said he would meet with Keeley and Education Department officials Tuesday evening, and "We will be able to question her then." The senator said he expected Noreen Michael, acting Education commissioner, to attend the meeting.
Jn Baptiste said he had also invited Manuel Justiz, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's education adviser, but has had no response from Justiz or Government House.
Justiz, who heads the University of Texas's College of Education, told The Source earlier this year that he did not anticipate visiting the territory but would work from his Texas office. Calls to Texas have been referred to Government House, but not returned.
Jn Baptiste said he was eager to hear the answers to several key questions at his two hearings, one on St. Thomas at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Earl B. Ottley Senate chambers, and at the same hour Thursday on St. Croix at the Legislative conference room.
This will be Michael's first appearance before the Education Committee in her new role. "Part of the reason for this meeting is to give the acting commissioner an opportunity to update us on the efforts and plan of action the Education Department has," Jn. Baptiste said.
"There are several concerns of parents and students from this potentially devastating lack of accreditation," he added. "We want to look at unresolved issues and develop strategies on how to remediate them. I want to know what the Legislature might have failed to do, and what we can do now to facilitate the process of regaining accreditation."
"We want to make sure we never get to this point again. At the end of the day, I hope the Legislature can find itself in a better position to assist."
Jn Baptiste said he would explore the possibility that the rules might somehow be waived. "It is my hope that Middle States can shed some light on what to do. It is still nebulous."
The senator noted that a bill now in his committee would transfer the main responsibility of education from the Education Department to the Board of Education. He said the bill, as it now stands, needs work.
"If it is to bring significant relief to students and parents," said Jn Baptiste, a former teacher, "we need to extend the mandate beyond what the current bill has. We are hoping to incorporate a performance index. Every student should have a student personal learning plan. A student in the ninth grade would have such a plan, with a parent and counselor to trace his or her academic track."
He said his committee hopes to have an initial draft of his bill, a substitute as an amendment, ready in a month.
Michael said in a release Friday that her department plans to host an Accreditation Institute during the first full month of the 2002-2003 school year. It would include school administrators, improvement teams, unions, and key members of government agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget and the Finance, Personnel and Property and Procurement departments.
The institute, initially planned for this summer, had to be rescheduled "due to the lack of availability of accreditation consultants and conflicting schedules of other participants," said the release.
Michael said her department has formed teams to lead the accreditation process for each individual school. "The department has taken various steps toward correcting the deficiencies as much as we are allowed by the laws that govern this territory," she said, "but there are still strides to be made if we are to come into full compliance with Middle States' requirements."
In addition to Keeley, whose transportation costs to the territory are being paid by the Government, and Michael, those invited to testify at the Senate hearings are: Justiz; Kent Moorehead, principal, and Regina Williams, assistant principal, Central High School; Leah Messer, chair, CHS Accreditation Steering Committee; Kurt Vialet, principal, Educational Complex High School; Jeanette Smith, principal, Charlotte Amalie High School; Lydia Lettsome, acting principal, Ivanna Eudora Kean High School; Jorge Galiber, chair, Board of Education; Tyrone Molyneaux, president, St. Croix Federation of Teachers; Vernelle deLagarde, president, St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers, and Chenzira Kahina-Kherishetapheru, concerned citizen.
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