Call Senate to Support St. John Land Swap, Gov. House Says

St. John’s half-century quest for a new school took a significant step forward as Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. sent proposed legislation to the Senate, Government House spokesman Richard Motta said Monday.

The school plan hinges on a land swap with the Department of Interior, with the V.I. trading Whistling Cay, an islet off the North Side of St. John, for a parcel in St. John’s Estate Catherineberg.

Motta asked Virgin Islanders to phone their senator and voice their support for the plan, which would initiate the land swap by July 1 if approved.

“The territory has been trying to find land on St. John for a school for more than 50 years,” Motta said. “We’re really encouraging you to call your senators and lobby for the approval of this measure as it will greatly, greatly assist the residents of St. John having that school built there and really alleviating some of the hardships that many St. Johnian students have had to face over many decades, commuting from St. John to St. Thomas just to go to school.”

The legislation would allow the territory to retain the water rights to Whistling Cay, and the proceeds received in the form of an equalizing payment of $210,000 from the National Park Service — to account for the difference in value between the two properties — will be appropriated to the St. John Capital Improvements Fund, Motta said.

The Julius E. Sprauve School, the only remaining public school on St. John, serves children from kindergarten through grade 8. The school was heavily damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Students have been attending classes in modular units placed on the ball field in Cruz Bay since the storms.