St. Croix Gets No Direct Access to Bureau of School Construction Funds and No Quarterly Deep-Cleaning Contract While St. Thomas Has Both

Lawmakers on Tuesday pressed the Bureau of School Construction and Maintenance to give its St. Croix leadership direct access to funds and correct disparities in school deep-cleaning services between the territory’s two districts. The concerns arose after the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development learned that although a $5,000 imprest, or petty-cash, account was approved for each district, no BSCM leader on St. Croix can directly access those funds without assistance from the St. Thomas office. Senators also learned that St. Thomas schools are covered by an annual contract for quarterly deep cleaning, while no equivalent arrangement exists on St. Croix. Senator Kenneth Gittens raised the funding issue by asking whether BSCM had an imprest or petty-cash fund available for immediate needs. Both the bureau’s executive director and chief financial officer are stationed on St. Thomas. Chief Financial Officer Dr. Chairmaine Mayers explained how requests from St. Croix ar...