Since news broke of the Ministry of Education’s intention to conduct rapid antigen testing to usher in face to face instruction, sworn enemy of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government Rosemary Cindy Rosan-Jones took to social media to threaten the government with a lawsuit.

“See! I was good, chilling and all, and you guys just want to take me off my break abruptly with this BS. Just to be clear, my children are NOT being subjected to this and they will return to school. I will find the time and energy to file a lawsuit on the Ministry of Education and also on the Minister himself and anyone who tries to trample on my children’s rights. I am very serious. We have a bunch of tourists running around here untested, driving our numbers through the roof, and you want to harass my children? Not a chance in hell. Get y’all selves together,” Rosan-Jones wrote on her Facebook page today, January 6 2021.

She said the VIP Administration has been reckless and irresponsible and they should “Get it together.”

“If you’re not testing the cruise passengers on arrival, you’re not testing my children. I will upset the whole apple cart.

PERIODT!!! Extremely annoyed,” Rosan-Jones, who has threatened to have the HoA under the VIP administration dissolved.

The threatening Facebook post by Rosemary Cindy Rosan-Jones today, January 6, 2022.

Minister’s reasoning

Honourable Wheatley explained that because of the high COVID-19 numbers in the Virgin Islands and the challenges that online learning poses, the Ministry of Education is seeking ways to return students to the classroom in a safe manner.

He said in speaking with the Health authorities, the testing of students was discussed.

“We discussed the possibilities of introducing a testing regime that will allow us to verify the COVID status of the children at the school, and this is done in an effort to protect persons. Now, this may seem like a strange concept here in the Virgin Islands but many places in the world have introduced testing into schools. It is not being done to be abusive to anyone, it is not being done to violate persons' rights, it is being done in an effort to keep persons safe,” he said.

Dr Wheatley said it is difficult to keep children away from each other and to follow the safety guidelines that have been put in place by the Government to curtail the spread of the virus.

The Education Minister said all of the logistics of the testing regime is being worked out.