The Source sat down with Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. to talk about his first six months in office and about some of the more critical issues facing his administration.
In the first part of our video series, the governor speaks about the importance of taking advantage of opportunities available to deal with these problems.
“There will always be problems,” he said, “but the opportunities we need won’t always be there, so we have to act now.”
Delving into Education, Bryan speaks about plans in place to rebuild the territory’s schools. Still faced with executing several large construction projects nearly two years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the governor said the task at hand is to establish “industry standards” for each, which then have to be reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency before anything can move forward.
With the territory’s overall population down, there is also a different “blueprint” to consider when rebuilding schools, the governor added when asked about plans to consolidate schools on St. Croix.
“With less and less students, the school population has severely dropped,” he explained. “We’re not saying that’s the permanent footprint for the schools that have been consolidated, but that’s the footprint we’re dealing with right now.”
Further portions of our conversation with the governor will appear in the next few days.