The Education Department presented plans for a three-year, three-phase project to renovate and modernize Bertha C. Boschulte School to the Coastal Zone Management Commission Thursday. The project will cost over $100 million, according to the presenters.
The junior high school, located in Estate Bovoni on St. Thomas, was damaged during hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and deemed unsafe for students and faculty. According to documents in support of Education’s request for a permit, Boschulte has been assessed and approved for renovation and modernization by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The renovated school will include existing classrooms, new pre-K to fifth-grade classrooms, administrative offices, a library, a cafeteria, a kitchen, bathrooms, stairways, balconies, a theater, and hallways.
The school will also include extensive gardens and spaces for outdoor learning and a play area. The gardens will feature areas attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.
Education architect Chaneel Callwood-Daniels led the department’s team of presenters. She said the school, when the project is finished, could contain 1,075 students. Since the project will be built in phases, she said the construction area will be separated from areas where students were being educated. She also said as much work as possible would be done during summer breaks.
A commission member asked if there were any plans for solar panels or alternative energy sources. She said there were discussions going on with Energy Office Director Kyle Fleming to make the building Net Zero — meaning it would produce as much energy as it used.
The school is located at 9-1 and 12A, Bovoni Road, Estate Bovoni, St. Thomas.
Anyone wanting to submit a written statement about the project must email them by June 29 to czm@dpnr.vi.gov.
A decision meeting will be held within a month.
The project details are available for public review on the DPNR-CZM Website.
