Territory’s Catholic schools stronger after storms, bishop says
While the 2017 hurricanes causedwidespread devastation throughoutthe territory, the recovery effort hasbeen a boon to Catholic schools thathave fought for years to keep theirdoors open despite chronic fundingchallenges.
Bishop Herbert Bevard of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Thomassaid Thursday that the diocese’s fourschools throughout the territory —Ss. Peter and Paul School, St. MarySchool, St. Patrick School and St.Joseph High School — have longfaced tight budgets that caused him“many sleepless nights” in his 10years as bishop.
“Ss. Peter and Paul has been strug-gling financially for years,” Bevard said. “The problem is it’s pre-Kthrough grade 12, you have 14 levelsin the school so it’s a very expensiveschool to run because of that.”
Hurricanes Irma and Maria causedsome damage to school buildings, butall four campuses were able to reopenshortly after the storms. Many publicschools were destroyed, so church of-ficials made the decision to welcomeall students, regardless of their ability to pay tuition.
Students “of any denomination and faith, or no faith” were invited toattend class at the parochial schoolsand the entrance exam was waived sostudents would not be barred becauseof poor academic performance. Tu-ition was discussed on a case-by-casebasis, and Bevard said that around 20percent of students who attended theschools after the storms paid nothing, 18 percent paid full tuition and theremaining 62 percent paid somethingin between.
Catholic Charities USA “saw usthrough for the first year after the hur-ricanes” and covered any financialshortages “so we were very happywith that,” Bevard said.
Assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency andthe parish’s insurance plan also en-sured that schools and churches recov-ered fully from the hurricanes.
While many students left islandafter the storms to live with familyon the mainland, the influx of publicschool students actually increasedenrollment and “it was a major jumpand it continued throughout the year,”Bevard said. Catholic schools are traditionallytightly disciplined and academicallyrigorous, and Bevard said he wasinitially concerned about the mixof new students. Those fears provedunfounded.
“It worked out fine, with very, veryfew exceptions there was no disciplineproblem at all,” Bevard said. Many students “were just delight-ed” by their experience at their newschools and stayed on even after thetemporary tuition-free period ended, atrend Bevard said he hopes continues.
This year, Bevard said he’s had noworries about missing payroll or com-ing up short on bills and “I’m verypleased with that.”
Many Catholic schools on themainland have closed in recent yearsdue to shrinking enrollment and theongoing fallout from the church’s sexabuse scandals, but Bevard said thosefactors have not affected Virgin Is-lands Catholic schools.
In his 10 years as bishop there hasbeen only one accusation of inappro-priate conduct made by a child against a priest, which occurred around 2008and was immediately reported to au-thorities at the Human Services De-partment, Bevard said.
An investigation found no evidence the priest behaved inappropriately, and the charge was found not tobe credible, Bevard said. Should another accusation arise, however, Bevard said the church iswell-prepared to handle such a situ-ation, and any allegation of abusewould be immediately reported togovernment authorities for an independent investigation.
Bevard said that despite the horrors wrought by the hurricanes, he’spleased that Catholic schools in theterritory have emerged relativelyunscathed, and in a better financialposition than they’ve been for manyyears.
There are still challenges ahead, however, and Bevard said formerGov. Kenneth Mapp’s salary increasefor public school teachers has madeit more difficult to retain teachersbecause the schools cannot afford tomatch that increase and the territory’scost of living continues to rise.
“I don’t know how the governmentis going to be able to keep that up, ”Bevard said.
Church officials hope to add amodest increase to teacher salaries inthe coming year to show appreciationfor their hard work, which Bevardsaid many see as more of a vocationand spiritual calling than a traditionalprofession. Many students also rely on scholar-ships to attend Catholic school, andBevard encouraged anyone interestedin contributing to scholarship fundsto contact the church at CatholicVI.com or 340-774-3166.
“We’re very grateful for the sup-port that the community has shownfor our schools and Catholic Chari-ties,” Bevard said.
