Jan. 25, 2007 — Footage from a school surveillance camera shows that at least five individuals were involved in a fire that damaged two Charlotte Amalie High School classrooms Wednesday evening. That according to CAHS principal Jeanette Smith-Barry, who spoke Thursday during a press conference on St. Thomas.
Acting Fire Services Director Glenn Francis said the camera is attached to the eastern side of Building C, where the fire occurred. The incident, responsible for ravaging one classroom and damaging another, was reported around 10:25 p.m. Wednesday.
CAHS administrators also reported another arson incident on Tuesday afternoon.
Francis, who could not release many details on Wednesday's fire, described the incident as "highly suspicious."
"Judging by how quick the fire spread and how hot the blaze was, we have reason to believe that some type of accelerant (a flammable substance, such as gasoline or alcohol) was used to start the fire," he said. "But we are still waiting for the results of our preliminary investigative reports."
During a visit to the school early Thursday, Smith-Barry said that the classrooms are used by ninth-grade students for English, physical science and math. The building was evacuated on Thursday, and classes were conducted in the school's auditorium.
She added that the fires put CAHS in a "difficult position," since available classrooms are scarce and students will soon need space to begin their second-semester classes. "I don't know what we're going to do right now," she said. "One of the classrooms, the one used for English, is completely unusable — equipment, materials, everything. It's a total loss."
Speaking during Thursday's press conference, Acting St. Thomas- St. John Superintendent of Schools Lisa Hassell-Ford said that responders from Fire Services and the V.I. Water and Power Authority were able to confine the blaze to the one room by moving quickly, putting the fire out in about 40 minutes.
The building, which Smith-Barry said is one of the oldest on campus, does not have sprinklers or working fire alarms. "The eastern side of the campus is also open, affording individuals easy access," she said.
According to Dr. Lauren Larsen, acting commissioner of Education, the department will be "looking into" retrofitting local public schools so that "incidents like these don't happen again."
When speaking about the need for more equipment and security on local school campuses, Hassell-Ford added that representatives from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools had planned a visit to the campus in "a week and a half."
"Clearly, it's not going to be to our advantage to have them here," she said. "And we are in the process of speaking to Middle States to postpone the visit."
However, Hassell-Ford said she saw the incident as a "minor setback," since department officials, school administrators and community members are committed to building the school's facilities and keeping CAHS accredited. If the team from Middle States decides to keep its appointment, they will be able to take back "something positive," Hassell-Ford said, since the community has "rallied" around the school in the wake of the fire.
Sen. Liston Davis, for example, said he had on Thursday submitted a bill appropriating $500,000 to CAHS for repairs to the damaged classrooms.
Tuesday's fire was the second of two incidents that occurred this week in Building C, CAHS officials added. "As soon as teachers entered the building [on Tuesday morning], I got reports that something was wrong," said Barbara Callwood, the school's assistant principal in charge of ninth grade. "Beer bottles were found in room 231C, and on closer inspection, I discovered them to be Molotov cocktails."
Callwood added that a red sweater, doused in something flammable, was pushed through one of the classroom's windows. "There was some damage," she said. "We had some brand new math books that are now gone, reduced to ashes."
Smith-Barry said that school officials are currently in the process of determining what materials were damaged during Wednesday's fire and whether anything was stolen. While some ninth-grade English students speculated on Thursday that their mid-term exams, which were conducted throughout the week, were lost in the fire, Smith-Barry said that she had confirmed that the tests were taken home by the teacher.
Officials said they hope students and community members will come forward with any information about the incident. "We have a no-tolerance policy when it comes to incidents of this kind," Hassell-Ford said. "And we're going to be very active in finding the perpetrators responsible for this."
According to Government House release, Gov. John P. deJongh Jr. and Sen. Liston Davis toured the campus first thing Wednesday morning.
“On one side of the campus, we are in the process of completely rehabilitating the gymnasium facilities; and here we have those that will prevent our young people from gaining an education by destroying classrooms,” deJongh said.
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