CHARLOTTE AMALIE — With students back to in-person learning as of Monday, the Virgin Islands Department of Education is tasked with implementing its plan for using American Rescue Plan funds to combat pandemic-related student learning loss, and comply with rigid COVID-19 safety protocols among other responsibilities, as first reported in the Daily News.
Victor Somme III, the department’s assistant commissioner who testified on behalf of Commissioner Racquel Berry-Benjamin, said at an Education and Workforce Development Committee hearing on Thursday that the agency is still fighting to lift low vaccination rates among staff and students in the public school system. As of March 11, there have been 264 COVID-19 cases reported and 175 of the positive cases were found in employees, he said.
When the department conducted an inaugural vaccination campaign it revealed a “hesitancy and lack of knowledge” towards vaccination, Somme said.
Surveys taken by 269 parents and employees indicated the overwhelming majority did not feel comfortable with the idea of being vaccinated and required continued vaccination education. Even with continued campaigns, Somme said as of February only 57 percent of the staff is fully vaccinated.
“Despite the poor vaccination rate amongst departmental employees and the dismal responses from the recent survey, the partnership forges on tirelessly with a second vaccination campaign for students, parents, faculty, and staff that began on February 14, 2021, in every public school in the territory on a rotating 21-day schedule until May 4, 2022,” Somme said.
Now that grades K-12 have returned to classroom instruction, education’s staff is continuing to use COVID-19 case management reports to monitor and track positive cases and close contact exposure on campus grounds.
Ericilda Ottley-Herman, the acting insular superintendent for the St. Croix District, said student learning loss was another target of concern for the department but much of the federal grant funding obtained on November 23, 2021, will be used to alleviate the pandemic-related struggle.
“One of the main uses of how we are going to use our American Rescue Plan funds for is to have high dosage tutorial — kind of like when doctors are implementing antibiotics and you need a higher or stronger dose infused at a regular basis,” Ottley said. “What that looks like is intensive tutoring that occurs one-on-one or in a very small group.”
The department plans to implement a multi-tiered program that classifies children in need of concentrated tutorial services that serve to cater to social, emotional development, academic learning, physical health, and mental well-being, Ottley-Herman said.
The tier-three students are those performing below standard, of which Ottley-Herman said there are “a lot” of students but had no firm number to provide the committee.
Separately, legislators held in committee a bill sponsored by Senator Milton Potter that seeks to provide mental health education and instruction, and struck down another bill seeking to establish a bureau within the Virgin Islands Department of Education called the Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance.
The bill was rejected by the committee in a 3-3 vote but was intended to establish a bureau to provide school maintenance, inspection, construction, renovation, repair, and modernization of the territory’s public schools.
Sens. Potter, Janelle Sarauw, Donna Frett-Gregory, Kurt Vialet, Kenneth Gittens, Carla Joseph, and Genevieve Whitaker were present for the hearing.