Leadership from the new School Construction and Maintenance Bureau provided lawmakers on the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee with an operations update Wednesday.
The bureau was established in 2023 through the enactment of Act 8717, which shifted school maintenance responsibilities, funding and personnel from the Virgin Islands Education Department to a dedicated entity under the Office of the Governor. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. tapped Craig Benjamin, a St. Thomas native with stateside experience in school construction, to head the bureau last July. Territory schools have continued to grapple with a lack of air-conditioning and mold, and in September, a falling ceiling fan seriously injured a St. Croix Educational Complex student, leading to student protests and community concern.
On Wednesday, Benjamin told lawmakers that the bureau is still navigating the transition of resources and staff from the Education Department. Addressing recent complaints of mold at the John H. Woodson Junior High School on St. Croix, Benjamin said the bureau immediately brought in its mold remediation contractor to deep clean the affected classrooms, and mold testing has been scheduled for Feb. 14-16.
“Due to the aging infrastructure of our schools and the environmental conditions in the region, we anticipate ongoing electrical, structural and mechanical issues, such as water leaks and fluctuation in humidity,” he said. “These factors can sometimes contribute to a moldy smell — a mildew smell — returning, even after remediation.”
Benjamin said the bureau will implement quarterly deep cleanings in all of the territory’s schools and test for mold every six months.
Lawmakers acknowledged the bureau’s cleaning efforts at Woodson but noted that until the school’s roof is repaired, the mold will keep coming back.
“If you clean the rooms … if you don’t repair the problem, we’re going to be cleaning the rooms over and over and over,” Sen. Clifford Joseph said. “Now, I want every government work, at the start, to think — and everybody who’s sitting here right now — if this was in your own house, would you pay somebody to clean mold, knowing that your roof leaking, and two weeks later, you gotta come back and pay a next person to clean your roof?”
“If you managing for the government, you have to defend the government money that you spending,” he added.
Several senators questioned the bureau’s reliance on — and oversight of — contractors, even though the bureau employs 65 maintenance workers.
“There’s stuff that maintenance should be able to do in-house,” said Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet, who chairs the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee, “so we can’t continuously be hearing ‘contractors’ … When I’m walking in these schools, some of these repairs are very basic.”
Benjamin said the issue underscored the bureau’s need for skilled labor.
“We are getting what we pay — what we’re currently paying for, which is unfair to us, but we’re going to train these guys,” he said. “Some of them will accept the training and some won’t, but it’s going to be on me to get them trained.”
Lawmakers also sought clarity about the bureau’s work order processes. After Sen. Carla Joseph shared photographs of gaping holes in floors and walls at the Julius E. Sprauve School on St. John, she repeatedly pressed testifiers for a repair timeline.
“These are easy fix — these are very easy fix,” she said. “I mean, I could go with a two-by-four and fix that hole quickly, right in the floor. That’s not a major issue. That’s one two-by-four — and I’m good with a drill — so tell me, what is the issue? Why these can’t have some kind of temporary fixes?”
Benjamin said the bureau is “in the process of addressing the issues.”
“I’m trying very hard to hold my patience with you guys for this minute, because I still don’t have a date,” Joseph said after several minutes of back and forth. “You have funding available — local and federal funding. These are our children. That’s an emergency issue.”
