The V.I. Department of Education announced the closure of eight school sites in the St. Thomas–St. John District Thursday as continued electrical grid instability left campuses and communities without power. The announcement changed plans for the affected sites, which had been scheduled to open at 9 a.m.
The department said the closures were necessary to protect students and employees despite ongoing efforts by the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to restore service. Its revised notice applies to Thursday, October 22, and identifies the following sites:
- Sprauve School
- Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School
- Ivanna Eudora Kean High School
- Joseph Gomez Elementary School
- Yvonne Milliner-Bowsky Elementary School
- Joseph Sibilly Elementary School
- Edith Williams Alternative Academy
- Raphael O. Wheatley Skill Center
Edith Williams Alternative Academy and Raphael O. Wheatley Skill Center were added in a revised announcement Thursday morning. The six sites named in the initial closure notice remained on the list.
Earlier Thursday, VIDE had announced a 9 a.m. opening for all public schools in the district, along with its district and state offices, citing the outage and WAPA’s advisement. The subsequent closure notice replaces that opening plan for the eight sites listed.
“We sincerely apologize for the short notice and appreciate your patience and understanding as we respond to this developing situation,” the department said. VIDE said it would continue monitoring restoration updates and provide additional information as it became available.
The school disruptions follow a districtwide outage Wednesday evening, partial restoration later that night and another generation-loss alert early Thursday. In its 7:30 a.m. update, WAPA reported that several generating units were back online and that service had been restored to some feeders and portions of others. VIDE said several schools and communities nevertheless remained without electricity when it issued the closure announcement.
