March 15, 2007 — Classes resumed without incident Thursday at John H. Woodson Junior High School a day after the principal was forced to cancel classes to avoid further unrest after a fight broke out involving students.
At least 12 students were suspended in the wake of the fight, which Principal Vaughn Hewitt said stemmed from prior altercations between students outside of the school. Also Thursday, Police spokeswoman Shawna Richards said a 21-year-old woman was arrested and charged with trespassing at the school.
Arrested Wednesday afternoon was Krystle Nanton of Estate Barren Spot, who was also charged with disturbance of the peace and resisting arrest.
Richards said in a released statement Thursday that Nanton was present at the junior high school "to pick up children of whom she is neither the parent nor guardian."
She was reportedly advised by school administrators to leave the campus and refused, Richards said. Bail was set at $1,000.
The two incidents led St. Croix Police to take steps to ensure that the V.I. public schools remain a safe place for learning.
On Thursday, District Chief Winsbut McFarlande said that changes had been instituted for the department to "improve its ability to respond to school-based incidents."
"Effective immediately, the School Security Bureau will function as an independent unit working closely with the Juvenile Bureau," McFarlande said, adding that school security officers were previously aligned with the Special Operations Bureau.
"We all have a responsibility to create safe learning environments for our children and have revisited our current strategies in order to become more effective in managing and containing school-based incidents," McFarlande said, adding that additional officers have been posted at the school.
However, he did not explain how aligning the officers with the Juvenile Bureau would improve his department's response to school-based incidents. McFarlande could not be reached for further comment Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, Hewitt said that all was well on Thursday when classes resumed. "School was fine. Everything went smoothly," he said.
Hewitt said that the fight stemmed from prior altercations outside the school, as far back as mid-February's Agricultural and Food Fair.
He said that a due process hearing is scheduled for the 12 suspended students on Monday, at which time he will recommend further measures being taken for some of them.
"There were some students who went overboard, and I will recommend them to the school superintendent for further discipline," Hewitt said.
He said that school administrators know what the altercation stemmed from but did not want to divulge the reasons pending Monday's hearing. Hewitt said the results of the hearing would be released thereafter.
"The parents were very cooperative yesterday and today," Hewitt said Thursday afternoon. "They came to us and said 'My child told me this is what happened.' We had good cooperation from them, and that was good because we were able to get to the bottom of this and stop any further disruption of classes."
Hewitt said he wanted to be forthcoming with the recent problems at the school because it is not always the case.
"This is not the norm for us. We don't have students fighting like that all the time, and I want the public to know that Woodson is still a safe learning place," he said.
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