Let’s Move the School

Tradewinds,

We’ve heard it said many times before and many of us have adorned our vehicles with the sticker “Put the Love Back in Love City.” As an educator for many years and a longtime resident of St. John, I would like to recommend to all residents, voters, and to the politicians who make our decisions, that we move the Julius Sprauve School and “Put the Love” back into our children and into our community.

It is with great sadness that I continue to read about the violence which is taking place on St. John, primarily by the youth of our island. Why is it, we ask ourselves, that our children are moving in this terrible direction? I believe it is a direct result of their being educationally neglected for many years by the Politicians who control St. John’s education system. I do not fault the educators, for they are the ones who have struggled for decades with inadequate facilities and misappropriated budgets. I do not fault the many fund raising organizers and events, for they are the ones that have helped to keep our schools afloat. I do fault “The System” that has failed our youth and has now set forth the problems we are facing today. This is the same old system that we have all heard proclaim the slogan “Our Youth is Our Future,” while doing little to solve our problems or even trying to give our kids a chance.

By moving our school from the middle of our town, where activity revolves around the local bars and restaurants, we can establish an educational center for our children, K-12.  At this new location, our young students can focus their lives around a quality education, physical activities at an athletic park, and  many creative after-school programs. By moving the school and creating an educational center we will succeed in providing one of the best and most successful cure for the ever increasing demise of our youth’s values. By educating our youth we can provide them with hope and a new way of life.

I wish to urge each and every one of us to work together with our incoming elected officials in paving the way for a better future for our island. Make sure that “moving the school” is the most important part of your politician's agenda. Make sure that coupled with moving the school we also support the need for appointing a town planner. Let us put the “Love” back into “Love City” and build a bright new future for our children and our island.

Debbie Hayes
St. John