Education

Education Commissioner Acted 'Inappropriately' When She Moved Generator From School To Her Home Following Hurricane Irma, Inspector General Concludes

ST. THOMAS -- An investigation by the Office of the Inspector General of the Virgin Islands into whether Department of Education Commissioner, Sharon McCollum, had stolen a generator belonging to D.O.E. and installed it at her residence for personal use, concluded that Ms. McCollum had indeed utilized the generator at her home following the 2017 storms, a move Inspector General Steven van Beverhoudt concluded was "inappropriate," and as exercising "bad judgement." "The investigation has confirmed that in fact the generator was moved to the commissioner’s home shortly after the passage of Hurricane Irma," Mr. van Beverhoudt wrote in a letter addressed to Governor Kenneth Mapp and Senate President Myron Jackson dated May 29. It has since been relocated to a storage area at the Adelita Canryn Junior High School, according to the report. Ms. McCollum stated that the generator was moved to her residence for security reasons and that her home was utilized at times as a base of operations, an...