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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesGuy Benjamin School is Hot Topic at Coral Bay Town Meeting

Guy Benjamin School is Hot Topic at Coral Bay Town Meeting

The fate of Guy Benjamin School in Coral Bay dominated the discussion at a town meeting held Wednesday at the school. Community members said that, after they saw their kindergarteners and first-graders shifted from Guy Benjamin to Julius E. Sprauve School in Cruz Bay at the start of the school year, they were worried that the Education Department would close the school.

“This is our pride and joy,” said Coral Bay area resident Donna Matthias, noting that all second- and third-graders at Guy Benjamin recently made the honor roll.

Several of the approximately 50 people at the meeting sponsored by the Coral Bay Community Council spoke about how families with young children are settling in Coral Bay, which increases the need for the school to stay open.

“I’d like to know what’s in store for us next year,” Cassandra Long said, adding that she has a child who will soon enter kindergarten.

Education Department officials have not announced their intentions for the school.

Many of those at the meeting said they hoped that the three senators who attended – Sens. Donald Cole, Myron Jackson and Tregenza Roach – would have some influence on the outcome.

“We are in full support,” Cole said, later pointing out that the decision on the school’s fate rests with the Education Department and Gov. John deJongh Jr.

One man at the meeting took issue that registering students for school on St. John is an expensive hassle. The Education Department only holds a few registration days on St. John, he said, and if parents miss them, they have to trek to St. Thomas. The man said it cost him $12 for the ferry and $20 for the taxi.

After Guy Benjamin teacher Jane Roskin noted that the school isn’t getting any of its operating money, Community Council President Sharon Coldren explained that when the school’s principal went on medical leave in December, the Education Department took away the school’s checkbook.

Coldren said it has not been released to the acting principal. She and Roskin said this has left the school dependent on money raised at the annual Coral Bay Yacht Club Flotilla benefit to operate.

Coldren also pointed out that Guy Benjamin School, the adjacent fire station and the roads are the only things the local government supports in Coral Bay.

“And to add to that, we pay a lot of taxes,” resident Linda Sorensen said.

While Guy Benjamin was the most discussed topic at the meeting, several people asked about where things stand with the long-awaited combined elementary and high school slated to be built at Catherineberg. The local government needs to come up with a way to exchange land with the federal government because the land intended for the school sits within V.I. National Park boundaries.

“They say they are working on it,” Cole said.

Most St. John public high school students attend Ivanna Eudora Kean High School on St. Thomas, taking the ferry across Pillsbury Sound to school.

Retired educator Yvonne Wells said that Kean High has lots of violence. “Because they are from St. John, they decide they are going to pop them,” Wells referring to the attacks on St. John boys by St. Thomas students.

She said because of the problems at Kean High, St. John is “losing its young black men.”

Those at the meeting also had other concerns.

Several people said that because the VITRAN bus doesn’t run on weekends and holiday people are losing job opportunities because in a tourism-based economy people often work on weekends.

And at issue for several residents was the lack of representation when it comes to elected officials. St. John residents as well as those on St. Thomas vote for seven senators. Voters across the territory select the at-large senator, who must live on St. John but represents people on all three main islands as well as Water Island and the few who live on various cays.

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