On this episode of comes with the territory.

The six Constitutional Convention will be on the ballot this November.

It represents the territory's latest effort to draft the constitution after five failed attempts.

UVA professor Doctor Malik Sekou is here to break down the topic and explain why all local voters should care.

Plus, just weeks into the new school year, education officials appeared before lawmakers to address a series of safety and maintenance issues in the territory's public schools.

Issues from unsanitary conditions to faulty, dangerous equipment sparked student protest, teacher walkouts and urgent demands for action from parents.

We'll have the details.

And later, this week's panel joins the conversation to analyze these political issues and more comes with the territory.

Starts now.

With.

Welcome to comes with the territory.

I'm Jeanette Millan Young, sitting in for Leslie Commission in the November 5th general election.

Local voters will elect delegates for the territory's sixth constitutional convention, an important step in the decades long effort to shape the future governance of the territory.

Here's more.

We'll number 34.

That 0153, an act establishing the sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands and providing for an appropriate plan to cover convention related expenses, as amended, has been approved by this body and will be sent to the governor for further consideration in December of 2022.

The 34th legislature passed a bill to establish the sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands, and it was signed into law in January of 2023.

This officially set the stage for the territory's six attempt at drafting a constitution.

The previous five conventions, dating back to 1964, all failed due to conflicts between local and federal requirements.

Notably, Congress rejected the Fifth Constitutional Convention, largely because of controversial provisions, including proposed tax exemptions for Ancestral Virgin Islanders in the upcoming general election.

Voters will select seven delegates from Saint Croix, seven delegates from Saint Thomas, and one At-Large delegate from Saint John to be seated as members of the six Constitutional Convention, which is scheduled to convene in January 2025.

The delegates will have the option to draft a new constitution, revised the fifth constitutions draft, or incorporate parts of the Revised Organic Act of 1954 into the proposed constitution before taking effect.

The proposed constitution must receive approval from the United States Congress and be signed by the president of the United States.

Joining the show to provide expert insight is Doctor Malik Sekou, professor of political science and history at the University of the Virgin Islands and project director for UVA's office of Self-Determination and Constitutional Development.

Welcome back to school.

I'm pleased to be here.

You are the eminent expert with everything that has to do with the Constitutional Convention here.

And it is back to how long now?

Well, I wouldn't say eminent.

I would say I'm the engaging expert.

I believe I've inherited the role from other very worthy people.

I'm one of the great, experts would be doctor.

Paul Leary, who was a pioneering professor at UVA during the 1980s, and he provided advice on how to deal with the issue.

And I think I kind of picked up the baton and ran with it since then.

So what would you say is the actual purpose of it all?

Because a lot of people, even though there's been a lot of public awareness programs, everybody still doesn't know.

So what would you say is the actual purpose of the Constitutional Convention and ultimately the Constitution?

Well, first, it Constitution is a framework of government.

It is like a plan, a house plan in any house that you live in.

And there's something that is written, a architecture of design that lays out the government, lays out the property and our case Constitution lays out the government in terms of separation of powers, the duties of elected officials, responsibilities of legislators, governors, judges, and so forth.

So it's a House plan, a plan for the government, a plan for governance, a plan for the people.

So in absence of this document, this Constitution.

Do you think that's that's what is affecting, our governance at this point?

Well, first, we do have a de facto constitution called the Revised Organic Act of 1954.

This is a constitutional document or a framework that was given to us by Congress in 1954.

It has been revised at least eight times.

It has been improved eight times.

But in the 1960s, our forefathers foremothers decided that we need to revise, revise it and give us more power.

And from 1964 onward, there has been, a process of seeking to revise it, revise the act.

I noticed you use the word failed attempts.

I would say they are they are incomplete attempts.

That means they were like a baseball player that had lame drives.

They never ran across the bases.

So you say, you know, you have an objection to the word failed.

And then there are other people in the in the community who basically say, well, we have a constitution.

So it didn't fail either.

That's what they say.

I mean, what do you say in rebuttal to to those type of comments?

It's an incomplete, situation.

The organic act that we have is a work in progress.

It is something that is not completely, consecrated unless the public, the people of the islands vote in mass, vote as a, as a majority of people and decide that this document is ours.

What we have is something that serves the Constitution, but it doesn't have our blessing as a people.

And what are we are doing right now?

In his sixth attempt is to, draft something, whether it's a revise of the revision that's in front of us or adopt something that can serve as a people's document that we have voted on, we have ratified and made our own.

So I want to talk about the process, of the election of the delegates.

But before I go there, I wanted to, at the very least, have people understand the importance as to how having this document ties into our everyday lives, because I guess people don't understand that part.

Well, the most important part about a, a document of this magnitude is that it plays is the burden and responsibility of governance on us.

There is a mindset, in a sense, for us to look to the federal government, look abroad for some kind of a federal savior, federal entity coming to resolve our, you know, building problems, housing problems, our infrastructure.

We have this dependency mindset that somebody outside of the Virgin Islands will come and solve it.

But I also have an old constitution.

The center of gravity comes to us and becomes our responsibility to govern ourselves.

And that's the most important thing about the Constitution.

So we have seven, positions open in Saint Thomas Saint and seven in Saint Croix, one at large.

But the election coming up, we only have four persons running, in Saint Thomas.

So what do you think that is?

Several things.

Some people believe it's because Saint Thomas has a seat of power or we are happy.

Or it could be that there's a lack of engagement.

The centurion population might be somewhat comfortable so far with the arrangement of the political system.

Our crews and brethren have the greatest concern because they can see how the way to configuration of power is here.

The seat of government, Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, is somewhat looking for the outside in.

So they have a greater desire to have a say in this, process such as the ballot has only four persons in Saint Thomas.

What's going to happen to the next three slots that are open?

How will that be decided?

Well, that can be a special election.

I think that's one solution.

Or the governor can recommend people.

I think he can do that.

Although Senate President, I really don't know what's going to be the solution, but I suspect there's going to be some special consideration.

I would advise that there will be a special election.

We need to have 15 people who are all elected or or brought into this position the same way.

That'll be a sense of, equality and normalcy.

If your hand picks up, then people know I'd be a problem now.

Ironically, when I wrote my presentation three years ago, I supported a mixed, approach where some seats are elected or some are selected, but it was a proposal.

So if they do have a special election, I think that, there will be, interruption in the process as to how it should flow because the delegates are supposed to be seated in January.

So if they have a special election, what about write in?

Can somebody write a name?

Then somebody get five votes?

Is by plurality.

Christ, the only time they can write in is my name when I requested or I mean, but yes, a writing campaign, just like we have in our election system, a runoff, component, it is possible that the board of Election can, have a meeting and decide to open up, some positions, in a runoff, dynamic, like within two weeks, there are vacancies.

Please select people.

Okay, that could happen.

So once seated, what do you think about, the options or not that you that I know, you know.

So not what you think.

What are those options that these delegates have before them once they're seated and that the length of the process.

Well, well, there is an easy way.

There is a moderate way.

And has that difficult way.

I call it a long drive in Texas in a pink Cadillac.

The easiest way for the Virgin Islands people is to adopt the revised Organic Act.

Whether it's amendments.

First, use what you have.

As soon as you get that, get that document approved through Congress and ratified among the professionals voters, then you turn around and revise it.

Then you have a series of amendments in which all the issues that we think are wise are the issues that are meaningful to this modern population.

We seek to adopt them in the future.

What would that one option?

The the delegates would have a very short period of time to work, right?

Because once the is approved, then is dissolved.

And so when you're talking about revisions, the revisions will then go back to the elected officials.

It doesn't have to resolve.

They could the legislature, the 36 legislature hopefully could seek to revise the process so that there is an extension.

And after the let's assume the revised Organic Act of 1954 is approved with amendments.

There is a procedure in which there are series of amendments that will take effect, and 2026, 2027.

Okay, so you mentioned one option and I interrupted you.

What are the other two options?

Under two options is to try to cut that pace, to take aspects of the previous, consistent documents and merge it into one document.

But but that's like making sausage.

That's that's a difficult task.

But it could be done.

Some of the people who running for this position in Saint Croix are very gifted.

There are attorneys who are running, and I believe once there's a will, there's a way rather than it long.

Once there's a will to change this, they'll find a way to make it happen.

The most difficult task is to start from zero.

If we try to reinvent the wheel, it'll take us ten years.

And the third option, does that actually start from zero?

From start from zero is under an option.

That's that's not wise.

So so for anyone listening at this very moment, what would you say to them.

Make sure to go and vote for this position.

Because a lot of times people just think about the senatorial or the senatorial.

What would you tell them on this day to vote?

Because this matters.

Why?

Well, I would add that even though a constitution isn't a very popular topic, is that the bread and butter issues, it deals with the political system.

Many Virgin Islanders are concerned about a lack of transparency, a lack of accountability, a lack of responsiveness.

This constitutional discussion tackles this in a big way.

It deals with a big question how do we have a system that works for us?

We people must wrap our arms around the Constitution.

Make it ours.

There will be nobody from the States coming to solve this problem for us.

We have to do it ourselves and that's to be done now.

So you would say one of the big topics, some people say, well, I don't want to vote because no matter who you vote for, the same thing.

But those who are drafting the constitutional convention can really redesign how we elect our governor and tenant governor.

Do they come elected as a pair?

Are they elected separately?

How many senators?

Once again, you know, all of that could be part of the Constitution.

So you're making me talk now?

Okay.

In this, in this second, convention in 1970, 71, there was a proposal to have an elected attorney general that was also proposed for municipal councils.

I would say for those of us who are not pleased with the way the attorney general office is run, we could say it.

Let us consider an elected, attorney general.

Let's consider maybe an elected judge.

Let us expand the courts.

So it is a bankruptcy judges.

Probation and probation.

And a probation for dealing with the land issue of probate.

That's correct.

Expanded probate judges.

Because I know the probate issue is a hot issue for many local families concerning land.

We could also deal with issue of mayors that came with an entire convention.

Do we want to have mayors?

Do we want to have municipal councils?

We can find creative ways to address our local issues.

They put it into the new constitution.

Well, a mouthful, but hopefully you have convince more people who weren't thinking about going out to vote for this, that they will vote for it.

But really, that's all the time that we have right now.

We really thank you for, having spent some time with us and, hope you convinced some people.

Coming up, we'll hear from this week's panel.

But first, let's take a look at the topics for discussion.

No student.

Absolutely no student should be put at risk when attending school.

We understand the gravity of this situation, and we apologize on behalf of the entire Department of Education, as well as the school Bureau of Construction and Maintenance to the students, the families, and the community as well.

The Education Commission is.

Apology came during a recent Senate hearing to address various issues plaguing the territory's public schools.

Just weeks into the new school year, the disturbing incident that prompted the public apology happened at the Saint Croix Educational Complex on September 5th.

A student was transported to the hospital with serious injuries after a ceiling fan fell inside a classroom.

We need to be safe.

School A ceiling fan cannot be dropping the next day.

Students protested, calling attention to dangerous and unsanitary conditions on campus.

Classrooms have mold.

We still don't have any AC up until now.

The heat is unbearable and we don't have water in the bathrooms.

We have to set.

We have to go in the bathroom and pee over people's pee.

Poop over people's poop.

It is horrible.

They've told us that they're going to change stuff.

Education officials told lawmakers of a change made following the ceiling fan injury, specifically regarding the contractor William Trinidad, doing business as CJ's services.

Every fan that that particular contractor install that when you take them down will look over there and make sure that, he did everything he was supposed to do and apparently he did not.

So, we have another set that this same contractor install.

In Central High, we bought a remove all those fan this afternoon, took all his work out and suspend him from doing any walk tail fan investigation.

Two weeks before the ceiling fan injury, there was a school bus accident on Saint Croix that sent multiple students to the hospital.

Education officials said that the bus carrying students from three public schools when it was hit by another vehicle on August 21st.

Some parents expressed frustration on social media, accusing the department of mismanaging the incident and failing to communicate properly.

The education Commissioner responded with a video message.

This incident highlights the need for the department to enhance protocols when contracting vendors who provide critical services to our students.

While accidents are often unforeseen.

V I'd e must ensure that parents are notified promptly and that decisions are made in the best interests of our students and families.

At the Senate hearing, education officials detailed the department's next steps.

As we have been working feverishly in our investigation of the school bus accident, we've had statements from our principals.

We have worked very closely with the bus company.

The commissioner herself interviewed the bus management, and we will have that information for you and what the next steps are going forward in terms of school bus management, accident policies.

Education officials spoke about the next steps at Charlotte High School and Saint Thomas, where students and teachers walked out of classes on August 29th due to unbearable conditions, including nonfunctional air conditioning units and mold.

Jackson News P correspondent visited the school that morning and described the conditions in a radio broadcast.

When you walk into those rooms, you are hit with the reek of mold.

It is this overpowering smell that you walk into that your eyes start itching.

You can feel it in your throat.

And I was in, you know, five different classrooms for five minutes each.

These are conditions that these guys are in all day long.

Education officials acknowledge the issues soon after the walkout, stating a contractor was on site to address the air conditioning issues and that mold remediation teams were scheduled to begin work at the Senate hearing, the Education Commissioner discussed a long term plan for mold in the schools.

At no time is it our intention to have staff and students in mold environments.

Modular units will have to be monitored closely and remediated on a case by case basis.

The school maintenance and Construction Bill will devise a long term plan to address the modulars across the territory.

The deteriorating state of the territory's public schools has brought scrutiny to the newly established Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance, which was created through legislation to focus on school upkeep.

Lawmakers at the Senate hearing also raised concerns about the bureau's executive director, Craig Benjamin.

Senator Samuel Carrion noted that Benjamin did not meet the basic qualifications for the role.

Are you a licensed architect?

No, I'm not, sir.

Are you a licensed engineered?

No I'm not, sir.

Do you know that act 8717 establishes that the Bureau is managed by an executive director, appointed by the governor, who must be either a architect or engineer.

Licensed.

And you don't possess none of those two?

No, sir.

That's the problem that we have.

We move legislation and this administration decides what to implement, to what to execute, when to do it, when not to do it.

And it starts from the top, all the way down.

The legislation that created the bureau specifies that the executive director, appointed by the governor must be either a licensed architect or engineer.

However, the job description posted by the government online did not include this license requirement based on the law that was passed in the 34th legislature.

And based on what you applied for, based on whoever in government House Sugg sent.

Oh, you're kind of an illegal hire based on the law.

You are paid for what you saw, and you have a right to be in that.

You're seeing that you fit the category, but it doesn't fit what the last prescribed.

And I don't know where are we going to go with that.

But these are the problems that continues to just bother me with the administration, how they just circumvent what the lawmakers put in place and send out wrong information.

School Maintenance Bureau Director Craig Benjamin joined Education Commissioner Diane Wells, Headington, and other department officials at a PTL meeting on September 10th.

The mother of the student, injured by a falling ceiling fan demanded solutions, not apologies.

What could have happened to my child?

You know what he said to me, mom?

Then fine has been shaken.

It's time for school to start.

He said the teacher reported it more than once.

He said if I didn't move to the side.

What a big you that my sewing class injure.

And thanks to God that it was protecting him.

He didn't die today.

I'm just here to hear.

Oh.

I'm sorry.

I'm going to give so much time.

Commissioner Wells Hutchinson acknowledged the need for accountability and stressed the need to prioritize funding for school maintenance and repairs.

She noted that the new Bureau of School Maintenance now has increased funding and purchasing power to address these issues.

It has to be a budgetary priority for us to sustain our schools.

You can do the impossible to eliminate a part of the base of the Bureau has been afforded that Mr. Miller and the rest of the maintenance team has not.

Is the fact that he has purchasing power up to $1 million.

We've never had that in the Department of Education before.

In addition to that, he now has a bucket of water in the house.

Well, that's not our fault.

Somehow for $1 million for over 15 years.

So if you're going to give me $1 million, cannot take away from our maintenance concerns.

The administrative.

But that's what you've been functioning for so long, so far every day.

And I'm looking forward to more improvements out of the program and is additional money.

So this is a commitment from all of us to put that money back in.

Joining me on set to break it all down is social media content creator Gabrielle Sherrod, who is also a former teacher from our Saint Croix studio.

Let's welcome Jamila Russell, the voice behind the long running political radio show Just Jamila on Am 970 and prominent local attorney Kyle Walker, owner of the Walker Legal Group.

Welcome to the show, everyone, and let's get into the pressing issues of the day.

Before that, I want to quickly get your thoughts on the featured discussions about the Constitutional Convention.

And we can start with Attorney Walker.

What are your impressions of what you heard earlier from doctors?

The court?

I you know, I don't really disagree with anything the doctor said and said I advocate for adopting the revised Organic Act and going from there.

I don't see the need at this point, after we've had so many constitutional conventions to try to create a document from scratch or create a document from one of the prior, drafts of one of the prior conventions.

At this point, we've been operating under the revised organic at our laws are based on on the Revised Organic Act.

Let's just work with that and then amended to add any additional language, that we, we value here in the Virgin Islands.

So do you have any confidence that basically, one of the key issues with ancestral rights, do you have any confidence that there will be any change in this, with this group of elected leaders?

I can't say that's difficult to predict, but what I can predict is that if it continues to, be included in the drafts, that will continue to be rejected by the by the federal government.

What are your thoughts?

Miss Crawford, I agree with Attorney Walker in that I don't think that reinventing the wheel, is a great approach to this.

I like the idea of including voices of past Virgin Islanders.

In the conversation, I'll also say that I think maybe the, as it pertains to the ancestral rights of Virgin Islanders.

I think where the challenge comes is in the verbiage.

I think that the the verbiage has to be crafted in a way that it does not look discriminatory.

And so I think that that's actually one of the many obstacles that our, new convention is going to have to face.

Very good.

What about you, Jamila?

What are you thinking?

Well, I think, having worked on the constitutional convention bill, I think it's disheartening that more young people aren't running to become a delegate to the Constitution because it tells you where the importance of this document lies.

Many of the convention delegates are retirees, and that may be because young people would have to take a leave of absence from work, to be able to be on the ballot.

But most, if not all of the, can.

The candidates for the sixth constitutional Convention are retirees, people who have been involved in in the community for a long time.

And that doesn't lend to new voices or new ideas or new verbiage.

As Miss Conrad said, to be able to be included in this, constitutional convention.

So I don't know that, and I can't speak to the success of the Constitutional Convention.

However, I think that we face a challenge in that the law, hasn't been met because we don't have the full complement of candidates from the Saint Thomas Saint John district.

So I don't know that the Constitutional Convention will be able to be seated come January.

If you don't have the full complement of 15.

So it begs the question as to whether or not we need legislation to postpone this.

Educate people on the importance of the Constitutional Convention, and then create the environment where more young people can become involved in the process.

Because right now there is a lack of involved.

So so, Jamilah, when I asked Doctor Sekou about it, he said writing is an option.

So is pluralities of somebody is written in five times that they can be seated as well.

I don't know that the, the there isn't any language in the bill that I recall that allows for that.

Or says that, write in candidates.

You know, if you have one person who's written in that, you win, a seat on the Constitution or convention by by one vote, one write in vote.

So, I'm not an attorney.

I'm not.

This is still an issue behind her name.

So I'm sure that it will be some legal challenges mounted, on that end.

Okay.

So we'll move on.

We'll we'll leave that one right there.

We'll we'll go to the, one of the topics that I like to discuss that we talked about in the package is before a ceiling fan fell in a classroom, and it seriously injured a student at this Inquirer educational complex on September 5th.

So your former teacher, Miss Crawford.

What are your thoughts on what happened there?

I, it's honestly really frustrating because I recognize that our schools have a lot of challenges, and I have a lot of sympathy for the leaders in place who have inherited a very monumental, problem.

And I also think that in areas where we could be proactive, we're extremely reactive.

And unfortunately, when we are reactive, it is our vulnerable populations that I feel at the most our elders and our children.

And, this is just another example.

And I think it's the canary in the coal mine that we're seeing here, that if we don't pull it together and we don't prioritize the health of students, the safety of students, the learning environments that our students are in, I think we're going to be seeing more of these problems unfold, especially when you consider how long it takes, for us to get projects completed.

It's going to take a while for our new schools to be built.

And what I keep hearing from educational officials is that there seems to be this fixation on the new schools are coming and not wanting to put so much resources into existing structures that will no longer be used.

And I also think that we have to tread the line of ensuring that our students are safe.

Good.

Thank you for those thoughts.

Ki, Attorney Walker, how about the fact that this led the students now to to protest?

What what are your thoughts and the and how they handled it?

I thought they handled it very well.

Because they're the ones that are really having to deal with these, these issues at the school and this, this came this occurred just a couple of weeks after the school bus accident.

So by that time, you know, some of the students who are on a school bus were were complex students.

So it's I think it's just the myriad of things that have happened since the school year has started.

I don't know how we could not have expected those students to to protest.

And in their protest, they shared additional information.

My niece goes to that school, and I had no idea that she has to pay for drinking water.

She has to purchase drinking water from the school.

And in watching the protest and speaking to my own niece and her explaining to me, yes, it's been like that for a while.

The the water coming out of the drinking water fountain is brown.

We have to pay for it.

So there's just a series of issues that I think these students were tolerating.

And that ceiling fan, falling and injuring one of their friends or someone that goes to school with them, I believe was the last straw.

And at that point, they had no choice but to protest.

Yes, thank you for that.

Jamila, would you weigh in also in this issue of the the falling ceiling fan?

Well, you know, as somebody who worked on legislation to be able to address the issues, with school maintenance, I was completely disheartened when I was in the middle of a, of a work meeting and we got the picture.

It speaks to the fact of, us not taking things as priority.

Legislation was passed in the 35th legislature in 2023 that created a Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance for the sole purpose of, you know, making sure that the Department of Education officials proper were focused on education and student results and student achievement.

And we created within the legislature.

The legislature passed the bill that created this structure to take care of maintenance.

It was funded.

And the law is very clear.

The funds were for school repairs and maintenance for those projects that were not federally funded, and so moneys were appropriated.

The legislature did what they they were supposed to do, and that's the institution where I work.

And so, when you saw that, it, you know, it it was very, disheartening because everybody says the senators need to do their job.

And as somebody who works in the institution, I can speak to the fact that they attempted to address this issue, and it took a long time for a director to be named.

And when he was named, he was named mid-summer when school repairs should be done during the summer.

And so, he there is was clearly no transition plan.

And so I just think that moving forward, we need to support the school construction and maintenance, and they have to get those maintenance projects moving and make sure that the schools are safe for our students, our teachers.

Thank you.

And everybody who goes, thank thank you for the, you know, attend any of our school campuses.

Thank you for this.

Nice.

I want to go back to Attorney Walker because she mentioned how she was, you know, she had personally involved and in this because she has nieces who go to the schools.

And, I like to hear her impressions on the aftermath of the accident, the school bus accident that she mentioned briefly.

Well, that morning, I received a call from one of my nieces who was on the school bus, and she called me to ask me to pick her up, to take her to the hospital because there was an accident.

And after the accident, some students were taken to school, and the ones who felt pain immediately after the accident were instructed to stay on the bus and that an ambulance was being sent, and they had waited for 40 minutes and the ambulance never arrived.

So what I was when I received the call from her, I immediately headed towards the area where the accident occurred, and on the way there, she explained that there were at least three other children who were at that time unable to reach their parents.

And she asked if I could also take them to the hospital.

Which I said, you know, yes, that my initial reaction, of course, was say yes.

So I, you know, I got there, I parked in between the bus and the police car that was there, with the police officer standing there.

And I came out of the car, my niece and the other children came off the bus and I took them straight to the hospital.

So they put a pin on that.

I just would like to know, was there a communication lapse?

Why is it that you were so highly involved?

And I'm not hearing enough about what school officials or education officials were?

If they played a role in all of this because your niece has called you, who called the police?

Who called education, who called the school?

Do you know, based on the conversations I've had with officials that education, they claim to not have known that the accident had occurred.

My assumption is that they would have known, you know, whether that's true or not, I, I can't say, what I do know is that when I got there, there were no school officials there.

When I got there, there was a bus driver and there was a police officer.

And what was the time?

That was the the time lapse between the call me receiving the call and arriving there was about 8 to 10 minutes.

And you got and the children.

Right.

And the children had already been there for at least over 40 minutes waiting.

So I took them to the hospital.

They, you know, were able to reach their parents.

Their parents came to the hospital.

And while at the hospital, I learned I had a second niece on the bus who was actually taken, separated from her older sister and taken to school and that she was experiencing neck pain.

So I went to her school at John H. Woodson, signed her out of school and, you know, took her to the hospital for her neck pain.

And she identified the three officials in the John H. Woodson School that she told she was experiencing neck pain and that she was in in an accident.

Her neck hurt.

She said who they were, and they sent her to class.

So after an hour or two, the officials from education came.

They began their investigation.

They spoke to the parents.

I let them know, but that Watson was informed.

I don't mean to interrupt you, but I just I want to get to that point.

And so what do you think needs to happen to improve the emergency protocols?

Because that's timelines that you share with us.

This is a bit concerning.

It was it was a few hours.

And I think definitely there needs to be some sort of policy regarding the bus because the my position, you know, as an aunt and as a lawyer is that when those children enter the bus, they are actually under the custody and responsibility of the schools and the Department of Education, not the bus.

The school has delegate it, a duty or responsibility to that bus company.

But the schools that the education themselves are standing in local parentis for those children.

So there needs to be some sort of communication between the bus company or any, any vendor that's dealing with children and the Department of Education.

That was the first issue.

But the issue is if there's an accident, you have to assess the children.

If a student tells you that they're in pain, you don't just ignore it.

You have to take action.

And I think that was what was most disappointing was that my niece told these officials that she was in pain, and they sent her to class and did nothing.

Thank you.

So hopefully the department has policies now to address those lapses in judgment.

Thank you for that, Attorney Walker.

Let's move on to more health and safety issues.

When it comes to to the schools, the mold and the heat prompt is for students to walk out.

You've been in the schools before, a former teacher.

What do you what are your thoughts about all of this?

Well, if you go back into, like Miller's records, mold has been an issue in our schools since the 1990s.

And the documentation is there.

When I was a teacher, I taught at Bosque Elementary School, and my classroom had a very big mold problem.

And because the schools our department advised, my students had, thank God, the capacity to leave the classroom and go to another teacher's classroom in between the day.

Whereas I was there all the time and I was regularly sick.

I was calling out several times a month and I would have like severe sinus infections, headaches, mental fatigue, mental fog.

I think one of the things that the public doesn't quite understand, and I don't know that the Department of Education completely, takes account of it, but I think it's important is that a lot of those modulars, when they came, they came with problems.

So the modulars that came to Belsky, I remember that there were very strong sense coming out of the modulars that were so unpleasant that you had to plug in multiple air fresheners.

So you talking about long standing history and the students just protested, ACH, do you think there walkout was effective?

Do you think people there were heard?

The response to education was insufficient?

If I were the students, I had to walk a lot longer because I think that what happens with the Department of Education is they put Band-Aids on the problem, which is why last year, the school year started with students protesting.

This year, the school year starting again with students protesting along the lines of the same issues.

And so I think that the Department of Education, I know Attorney Walker was just calling for them to implement more policy.

I don't think we have a policy problem.

I think the Department of Education has an accountability problem.

They have an enforcement problem.

They have a delegation problem.

They have a system of checks and balances problem.

Because there are policies in place.

Miss Russell, you obviously have to pay attention where you work.

What are your thoughts about this walkout at and do you think that the walkout from the students and teachers was effective?

Well, I think any time students take action, it causes, the community to, to pay attention.

I think what should be said, though, is that, a lot of times we have people in positions that want to retain the power of certain and oversight of certain functions.

Again, I will see, there is a Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance transfer those powers over to the the entity that's now created to focus on that and let them maintain and repair and make their renovations of all of the modulars of all our school facilities, our playgrounds, until such time as the new construction begins, money is there.

They need to put they need to plan.

You know, there's a what we just said money.

Is there some money?

Moneys have been appropriated.

But, money has been a problem.

The money has been appropriated.

The there's been a lot of education.

The Department of Education, and, you know, the governor took a long time to name a director of the Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance.

However, once he was named, what needed to happen was a transition plan needed to be put in place where he was brought up to speed on all of the issues that's happening at the various schools in the Virgin Islands.

And then, you know, a plan.

The law calls for a maintenance plan to be created within 180 days of submission.

However, there wasn't a director.

The bureau didn't get stood up.

It's now in the process of being, stood up.

So I am hoping that we see in very short order, a plan on how he's going to address the maintenance and repairs and the low hanging fruit that exists, that can make our learning environment for our students much more pleasant and safe.

Thank you, Miss Russell.

So I'll continue with you because you are intimately involved or intimately involved in this legislation to create that position for the new Bureau school construction and maintenance director.

And there was an issue that came up recently where the the qualifications for the executive director were being questioned because there was a discrepancy as to what the law says and what was posted, and that person actually responded to so well, the, the the question, the law is very clear.

The, the law says that the executive director must be a licensed architect or engineer, licensed in the Virgin Islands.

However, the legislature does not implement laws.

They make laws.

And so, when the job announcement went out, it went out incorrectly.

I know for certain that the administration was notified that the job announcement was incorrect.

We were told that it would be addressed.

They have moved on and hired this individual who applied based on the job specification.

That was, released.

And now that it's done, I don't know that the legislature has standing to take any action.

However, I hope that the individual that's been hired, can do the job and make sure that he takes care of the maintenance and the construction of the schools, because at the end, we need to make sure we create safe schools for our students to learn.

And educators need to focus on student achievement.

I appreciate, those thoughts.

Attorney Walker, what are the legal ramifications?

We know that the legislature does, write the laws and the executive implements them.

So now that this discrepancy has happened, what next?

Well, you know, the only legal ramifications occur if someone takes action.

From everything that I have heard, not just locally, but from, this individual's history working in the States, he actually seems to be an ideal selection outside of not meeting those qualifications in the legislature.

And quite frankly, my concern at this point is that there's someone there who can get the job done.

Because when we fail to repair these schools, we send messages to our children that we don't care about them.

And when you know, if a child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.

Our failure to provide a safe environment for our children is the reason why we are now seeing crime.

Amongst people who seem to get younger and younger because they are making themselves heard.

Thankfully we have some students who protest, but the ones who don't protest are the ones who commit crimes.

So I just need an individual there who will turn this around, because when you turn it around, you improve or improve our community as a whole.

I take your point about this particular individual, but do we establish legal precedents if we allow this to continue to happen?

You know, possibly.

But until someone makes an objection that's legal to it, then honestly, this this is this is the situation.

So this is this is where we are.

And at this point, I my time is better spent supporting this individual so that he can perform and do a good job, as opposed to mounting a legal challenge to the circumstances, the circumstances under which he was hired.

So we go back to the whole issue of the bureau effectively addressing the school maintenance issues.

And I do recall Mr. Russell saying that it seems as if they're not passing the reins, completely.

Is that what I understood, Mr. Russell?

It just if you listen to the hearing, it seemed, you know, under testimony, it was stated that there was no transition, there was no transmission.

Trans, transition meetings.

There hasn't been any discussions.

As a voter, if I take myself outside of my work and, and look at it as a voter, I have to question why wasn't a transition done?

What is the purpose?

We need to have the you know, if you hire somebody for the job, you need to give them all the tools that they need to be able to succeed in the job.

Now, am I upset that the law wasn't followed to the letter of the law?

Of course, because I work in the institution that writes the law.

However, as a as a parent, I want that that person be given all the tools that he needs to succeed.

And as a resident of this Virgin Islands, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I'm going to support him, as he moves the bill forward.

But I do think based on testimony, that there wasn't a transition, a transition needs to happen, and we need to be able to give, the bureau the ability to function as intended by at 87, 17.

Excellent points.

Thank you so much for for your thoughts on that issue.

Shifting to another important issue concerning the Department of Education, a long promised report on sexual abuse reporting in the public school system has just been released by government House.

The review was commissioned after allegations of unreported abuse by a school official, likely concerning former coach Bruce Smith, who was sentenced to 35 years for child sexual exploitation.

Senator Maurice James wrote a letter to Attorney General Gordon Ray questioning why no school officials were prosecuted, but the AG stated that the potential charges are now time barred by the statute of limitations.

Let's dive into the report, Miss Crawford.

It's been a long, long time coming for this report to be released.

And now we're told that statues of limitations have passed.

Well, what are your thoughts about the length of time that it took?

What do you what are your thoughts about the content of the report?

I think that it is an incredible injustice to the victims.

I think that when people are working in a school, it's expected of them that they are going to preserve, and protect children and their dignity and their health.

As for the report, I feel a little disappointed, to be honest, because back in 2007, we saw an instance where there was a Department of Education employee in Saint Croix that had abused a ten year old student.

And I would think that a lot of the protocol they're talking about in this report would have already been in place.

One of the things they mentioned was that there would be an implementation of a mandatory report, our policy, which left me confused personally, because I went into the Department of Education knowing that I had to I was a mandated reporter.

It's what you learn in college when you're getting your degree.

And it was also strange to me that that policy wasn't already implemented.

And that's in the school system where you did you receive orientation and that as well?

No, I never got any training and it wasn't something that was outwardly discussed.

If I didn't go and ask my school counselor what the protocol was when I had, concerns that I didn't outwardly have that information.

So what do you think?

Jamila.

Mr. Russell, what do you think about the timing of it in terms of running the clock?

Do do you think it could have possibly be done on purpose?

That's what some would think.

And no, I think I no, I don't think so at all.

I think that, the investigation portion, you know, the laws are clear misdemeanor one year to bring charges, felonies, three years.

Maybe our laws need to catch up.

Maybe we don't.

We need to to remove the statute of limitations for certain crimes within the Virgin Islands.

But the laws they stand, I think, the investigation that occurred, I think some of based on what I read, some of those school officials would have, fallen.

The time would have passed for charges to be brought against them.

I am I am a little bit upset.

And I've said this before right here on this show.

Where the outcry from the community, the outrage hasn't been to the level that I expected.

And I think it's because, it's been abuse against young men.

And that speaks to the taboo we find here in the Caribbean, when it comes to male and male crimes.

And so, as a boy, mom, this impacted me, and I was very outraged.

And the fact that the rest of the community isn't as upset, by these charges and by the lack of enforcement by the Department of Education still to this day, befuddles me, confuses me, angers me.

And I'm trying to process my emotions as it comes to how the Department of Education handled this case.

With Bruce Smith, I understand, and I feel you attorney Walker.

From the justice, or lack thereof.

I mean, what do the students and their parents have to look forward to in terms of, well, is this a closed case?

The statute of limitations have run out.

Is there any way that they can seek justice other than this?

The AG nominee, attorney Ray explained in his response to Senator James's letter that, listen, while we may not be legally able to prosecute anyone, for failing to report or for any of the the crimes associated with with what this individual did, there's nothing that precludes the department itself to institute administrative actions.

And I have to completely agree with Miss Russell.

The response or lack thereof, from education regarding some very serious issues is what's really troubling.

You know, the Department of Education didn't release this report.

The governor did.

And thank God he did.

And the question is, why did he have to release it as opposed to the department itself?

And now that you have an actual, for all intents and purposes, legal opinion, saying that nothing precludes you from investigating or taking this information to determine whether administrative action should be taken, is that something that the department is even considering and exploring?

Because it should.

And good point.

Let's go out.

What do you think?

I mean, you've been in the system.

Do you think that this is something new that, education officials, failed to heed the the importance of the moment and to act so that the students feel that somebody is actually protecting them?

I completely agree with Attorney Walker.

I think that we keep kicking the can down the road for just about every issue.

And I, I'm disheartened you know, like when you consider our children being our future and we keep wanting them to come out there and vote and get involved, our children don't feel like we care.

And by all intents and purposes, they're absolutely right, because our actions prove otherwise and that this is a failing of the Department of Education.

And it would be nice to see accountability and for us to figure out what accountability looks like, because I keep hearing that they're going to institute transparency and accountability, and their word and their actions do not mount or lie.

Not so.

But we're seeing that the students are really taking an active part.

So they're protesting is do you think folks are actually encouraging them to the voting process because you speak up.

But what happens after speaking up?

I think what we're going to see is those children are going to graduate, and we're going to see huge amounts of brain drain happen in our territory.

And it's unfortunate that our children are protesting because it should actually be their parents going out there with them protesting, because that is where real change happens.

The children advocating for themselves.

For me, the bar is low on the ground.

If that is what our expectation is of moving the needle forward for Virgin Islands policy and for a better education system for our students.

Thank you for that.

And Miss Russell, I would like to end this topic with you.

When it comes to student protest in and student involvement, what are your thoughts about the fact that they're actually speaking up?

I mean, I know you work for the institution, but I think it's really refreshing to know that our children are not just sitting quietly, that they're saying, listen, I'm here.

Listen to me as somebody who in just a few seconds think, protested as somebody who has been on the front lines by herself sometimes, protesting conditions and making the public aware.

I am proud of the students.

But, like I said, and I will continue to see, change begins in the home.

Our students, if our schools aren't prepared for students, our our our parents, teachers, shouldn't be going into the schools.

The parents of these students are the ones that get up every morning and send them to school, knowing that the schools are in deplorable conditions.

Parents need to stand beside their children.

Parents need to make their voices heard again.

I'm a parent of boys, and I have yet to hear any PTA issue a statement regarding Bruce Smith.

You want to know what accountability looks like?

Accountability looks like the Department of Education firing every administrator that was involved.

That was report, that a complaint on me, too?

Took note on that note, you made some compelling statements.

All of you are very engaging.

And I thank you all for your participation.

But that's all the show we have for you today.

Be sure to tune in next Sunday at 1 p.m. for an all new episode of Comes With the Territory.

In the meantime, for your news updates, tune in to the News Feed on weekdays at 5 p.m. on 93.1 FM, or by downloading the app Antonette Milenio for all of us here at 12.

Take care if you can.

This.