In late October of last year, the ceiling of a classroom at the primary school caved in. No one was injured as the incident occurred on a weekend.

The Minister of Education Dr Natalio Wheatley said the problem stemmed from an issue with spalling. He said the concrete in the roof started to crack because of water damage over the years. The steel in the roof expanded because of age and water and it pushed off the concrete.

“Of course, we know the concrete was falling onto a drop ceiling. And so, they would have been falling for some years. It got heavy and then the drop ceiling collapsed. What was done is that maintenance persons scraped off all the loose pieces of concrete that were falling. They also removed the drop ceiling and replaced it,” Wheatley stated.

“Of course, they said to us that would be adequate for right now, but we are going to have to take some steps, most likely in the summer when we can do more work, to do major works at Althea Scatliffe, to of course, re-enforce the structure through beams and columns. There are some other works that have been done there to seal the roof to stop the water from getting inside. That work was completed,” the education minister added.

Dr Wheatley said because the school is very old, he wants to ensure it has great stability so it can withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.

When the incident initially happened, the minister said the reality of the situation is that the challenges have been ongoing for several years. He noted the hurricanes exacerbated the challenges.

Wheatley noted situations like this will keep coming up because of the territory’s crumbling infrastructure.

He said the school infrastructure in the Virgin Islands is very old and poor maintenance over the years has led to its rapid degradation.