GREAT BAY--“I refuse to meet another child too late.”Drawing on what she sees firsthand in the field as an attorney, Member of Parliament Sjamira Roseburg on Friday advised the Ministries of ECYS, Justice and VSA to unite behind an expanded CRT program, to reach the next student before it’s too late. She has dispatched an official letter via the Parliamentary route to the Ministers about the same.
For MP Roseburg, the circulating video of yet another video of a fight including students this week is itself not the real story. “The only reason we’re talking about this fight is that someone filmed it,” Roseburg says. “For every fight that gets recorded, there are others no one films. Those children deserve our attention just as much, and every child deserves to know that we see them, and that we are doing something about it.”
Roseburg speaks from more than just her seat in Parliament. As a practicing attorney, she has represented young people whose troubles started small and were never caught in time.
“By the time these young people end up in front of me, it’s often already too late,” she says. “I’ve sat across from too many kids who could have been reached years earlier, if someone had stepped in before things escalated. That’s exactly why I’m putting these suggestions forward: from what I see in the field, here is where I believe we can still catch it early, before a fight becomes a court case.”
Roseburg is careful to say this is not about blaming any one ministry. She praises the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) for its Conflict Resolution Training (CRT) pilot, which started in December 2025 and is now teaching teachers and students at three schools how to handle conflict without violence.
“That pilot is a genuinely good step,” she says. “It shows that when we invest in our children, it pays off.”
Her message now: build on that initiative so every child benefits, not only students attending one of the pilot schools.
A mentor in every classroom
Roseburg wants to add a role model and mentorship program to the CRT pilot. The idea is to bring respected community members, young role models and rehabilitated former offenders into schools on a regular basis, so students have someone outside their own family or classroom to look up to and talk to.
Because this involves former offenders, Roseburg proposes that the Ministry of Justice, working with Probation, select and supervise the mentors so the program is built carefully and safely from the start.
A familiar face at the school gate
She is also proposing more familiar faces around school gates: hulpagenten, community support officers who do not need to be full police officers, to keep a visible, friendly presence in and around school areas during school hours.
“Someone the students know by name, standing at the gate, can help stop a fight before it even starts,” Roseburg says.
These officers would step in early to calm situations and call in police for anything more serious.
A temporary no-gathering zone around schools
As an additional tool, Roseburg is proposing a temporary “no-gathering zone” around any school with a pattern of fights, similar to a rule already used in the Netherlands.
In practice, this would mean groups of two or three or more people would not be allowed to gather immediately around that school during school hours, for a limited period, unless they have a legitimate reason to be there. Police could ask a group to move along on the spot.
The zone would last only a few months at a time and would be reviewed based on whether incidents decrease. Clear signs at the school would explain the rule, the hours during which it applies and the fines involved.
Roseburg stressed that the measure is intended to work alongside mentors, CRT training and hulpagenten, rather than replace them.
Support for parents, not blame
“None of this works if we start pointing fingers,” Roseburg adds. “Parents are doing their best in hard circumstances, our schools are stretched thin, and our police already have their hands full.”
Instead of blame, she wants parents to have clearer tools and support.
St. Maarten’s law already requires parents to ensure their children are enrolled in school and attend regularly, while parents can already be held responsible under civil law for damage caused by their children.
Roseburg proposes making these existing rules better known and better used, while adding two new steps: a fine for parents whose child repeatedly violates the no-gathering rule, matching the fine proposed for adults, and, before any fine, a required conversation between the parent and the school or CRT team the first or second time it occurs.
The objective, according to the proposal, is to address the behavior early rather than simply punish it Roseburg approached ECYS, Justice and VSA in writing this week, laying out the proposals and requesting a joint response within four weeks. She is also looking at discussing the school bussing system.
“I don’t want to wait for the next video, and I don’t think anyone does,” she says. “Every parent, every teacher, every neighbor who has ever worried about a child walking home from school, this is for you too. Our children already carry so much. Let’s give them the one thing they’re asking for: proof that the adults around them are working together, before something goes wrong, not only after.”
