Citing continuing job actions this week by teachers at several schools who have been protesting a directive that changed school schedules, V.I. Education Commissioner Noreen Michael rescinded the policy Friday night.

Starting Monday, all of the territory's public schools will revert to the schedules they used during the 2004-2005 school year, Michael announced in a written statement released about 8 p.m. Friday.

The release said Michael would temporarily put off the implementation of the extended school day, but it gave no indication whether or when the department would continue its effort to extend the school day.

Michael could not be reached Friday night to discuss her decision.

In the written statement, Michael said that the job actions - including teacher sickouts that forced cancellation of classes and walkouts that cut off instruction at the old dismissal times - have caused too many disruptions in students' education.

"The department considers the instruction of our students to be of paramount importance," Michael said in the statement released Friday night. "The continued disruptions are diametrically opposed to the department's commitment to providing the very best education for our students. Therefore, I have made a determination to temporarily defer the implementation of the new instructional hours policy."

Michael's statement said that she had discussed the impact of the policy with Acting Gov. Karen Andrews and Education Department staff on Friday.

St. Thomas-St. John American Federation of Teachers President Vernelle de Lagarde said Friday night that she was pleased with the move.

"Wow. That's good news," she said. "I am happy that we are going to try to resolve this the way it should have been dealt with from the beginning."

Michael announced Aug. 9 that all public schools must offer 6Γ‚ hours of class time. For most schools, the new policy added a half-hour to each school day.

The increase in hours came without any promise of additional pay for teachers, and Michael adopted the policy without consulting with the AFT or the Educational Administrators Association.

St. Croix American Federation of Teachers president Tyrone Molyneaux said Friday night that he was happy the commissioner "decided to rethink her decision."

"The union has always welcomed the opportunity to sit down and have a dialogue. It is clear that the commissioner erred in not communicating her plans with teachers, the unions, parents and students," he said.

Before Michael announced her decision, teachers at three schools - Joseph Gomez Elementary and Kean High School on St. Thomas and Woodson Junior High on St. Croix - staged job actions on Friday. At Gomez and Kean, the teachers ended instruction at the old dismissal time rather than the new time. At Woodson, teachers staged a sickout, with more than 90 percent calling in sick - forcing school to be canceled for the day.

Over the course of the week, teachers staged at least 12 job actions specifically to protest the longer school day. Of those job actions, five on St. Croix caused the cancellation of classes for a full day. The other seven job actions caused school days to be shortened by minutes or hours.

The AFT chapters have filed a grievance with the V.I. Public Employees Relations Board and are waiting on the results of that process. No job actions have been condoned by the union.

De Lagarde said Friday night that she suspects the grievance prompted Michael's reversal of the policy.

V.I. Board of Education member Debra Smith-Watlington, who earlier Friday released a statement voicing "dissatisfaction" with the way Michael had implemented the extended school day, said Friday night that she was "elated" upon learning of the decision to return to the previous schedule.

"I think that she has put the best interest of our public school students first, and I applaud her for that," Smith-Watlington said.

Michael has said that by lengthening the school day, schools will be able to plan for professional development and staff meetings while still offering students the minimum of 1,080 hours of instruction as mandated by law.

Teachers have challenged that explanation, saying that they are eager for training but that they should be paid for the time.

Molyneaux said the teachers' union is not opposed to the idea of providing students with more instructional time, but it disagreed with the manner in which the change was implemented.

"We are still prepared to sit down and meet with the commissioner on the issue," he said. "A decision such as this should be done through negotiation and through bargaining. That's how it is done."

"I hope that our schools, teachers, administrators, students and parents can get back to focusing on student achievement," Smith-Watlington said.

- Contact Tanya Mannes at 774-8772 ext. 317 or tmannes@dailynews.vi.

- Contact Joy Blackburn at 774-8772 ext. 303 or e-mail blackburn@dailynews.vi.

- Contact Aesha Duval at 774-8772 ext. 453 or e-mail aduval@dailynews.vi.

- Contact Megan Poinski at 774-8772 ext.304 or e-mail mpoinski@dailynews.vi.