The Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) in the British Virgin Islands.
For at least two weeks, perhaps longer, rumors have been circulating in the British Virgin Islands that a teacher at the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) had sexually assaulted a student.
On Friday, the BVI Ministry of Education,, Youth Affairs, and Sports attempted to address the situation. A terse, two-paragraph press release from the Ministry said only that officials were “aware of a serious allegation involving a teacher and a student.”
While declining to name the school in question or the accused teacher, the Ministry nevertheless reassured the public that it is “following the proper process, which includes the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, the Social Development Department, and the Teaching Service Commission.”
While an investigation takes place, the Ministry says that “measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of the school community.” What those measures are, the press release did not say.
Reporting from local news outlet 284 Media indicates that while an emergency staff meeting had been held at ESHS, the teacher remains at school.
The question of how authorities respond to allegations of the sexual predation of minors by authority figures in the public school system was recently brought to the fore in the USVI by the prosecution, conviction and sentencing of Aflredo Bruce Smith, a long-time coach at the Charlotte Amalie High School, who is said to have abused multiple boys during his decades-long tenure at the institution. A subsequent report commissioned by government officials did little to disclose who among the school’s staff and administration knew about the abuse and failed to report as legally mandated.
Now, British Virgin Islanders must grapple with similar questions as the response to these serious allegations continues to unfold.
