Visitors ascending the stairs of St. John's first private middle school are greeted in the foyer by a sign proclaiming "Welcome to Coral Bay School," emblazoned over 52 panels naming sponsors and contributors who helped make Tuesday's opening day possible.
No one seems to mind that, the name notwithstanding, the new school is in Cruz Bay.
Co-administrators Scott Crawford and Sabrina Boebert hoped to open the new Coral Bay School at a refurbished restaurant on Route 107 but the space was leased instead to a road contractor. So when the doors swung open for the first time, it was in a loft at the St. John Lumberyard.
The two spent much of their summer converting the space into a main classroom, a small office, a lunch room and a smaller classroom.
The co-administrators, both former teachers at the island's first private school, Pine Peace School, said opening a school of their own ranked among the greatest moments of their lives.
"There is no comparison. You don't have an experience like this in your life, except maybe if you give birth," said Boebert.
She said it was well past the end of the first school day, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and parent-student assembly, when she and Crawford realized they had passed the first hurdle.
Until then, Boebert said, most of their efforts went into administrative affairs. Now the pair say they are after new goals, the first of which is getting their students through the first year of instruction.
Part of first-day orientation was spent explaining to the new students –some of whom have spent time in home school settings — the importance of time management.
Instruction is based on block scheduling, Crawford said. Students with classes that meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays may find that starting homework assignments on Wednesday night won't work, he said.
They were also introduced to the concept of independent studies. Each student is expected to pick a topic of interest, research it and produce a multimedia project by the end of the first academic quarter in mid-November.
"We don't expect them to just present a term paper," Crawford said.
Multimedia projects can combine photos and video presentations, magazine-style journals, Internet Web sites or presentations put together with the aid of computer software such as PowerPoint. First-day students were also given the facts of life about test taking and what will be expected of them come exam time.
Boebert said another challenge will be coordinating volunteer services. To get the school ball rolling, the co-administrators said Coral Bay School has attracted a number of volunteers.
A volunteer Physical Education teacher put students through their paces. Another volunteer shows up a couple of times a week to traffic telephone messages and run errands. A volunteer school nurse has also offered to double as a field trip chaperone. Others have offered to help organize a school library.
She and Crawford said they also want to move the school through the accreditation process. Gaining credibility, they said, is important to maintaining and attracting the kind of support the school will need in order to succeed.