By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

After more than 10 years of implementing the federally funded after-school snack program for primary students, the Public School System will now extend it to secondary students on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian.
On Tuesday, the fiscal and personnel affairs committee of the Board of Education approved the recommendation of principals and administrators to offer the program to all junior and high school students.
Tim Thornburgh, PSS federal programs officer and acting finance director, said in an interview that 500-600 students will benefit from the proposal which will be discussed by the board at its next regular meeting.
“The committee has approved it and this will be decided by the board at the next meeting and we’re very hopeful for a positive response,” he said. “This will be the first time that our secondary students will be included in this program,” he told Variety yesterday.
“This is really to help those students who need additional instruction and those who need to schedule one more course that will fit into their daily schedule — it’s an after-school format to enable them to graduate on time,” Thornburgh said.
PSS needs $200,000 for the program extension and the funding will come from the consolidated grant it received from the U.S. Department of Education.
“We will ask to expedite the process of this proposal,” Thornburgh said, “and once USDOE approves the board’s decision we are expecting the after-school program for secondary students to be implemented the middle of next month.”
Every year, PSS receives a consolidated grant of $9 million from USDOE.
For FY 2007, Thornburgh said PSS is expecting to receive $9.2 million.
Of this amount, PSS will use $1,046,616 for professional development — $167,459 for private schools and $879,157 for public schools.
$6.9 million, or 85 percent of the consolidated grant, will be used for private schools — $1,116,390 –while $5,861,050 will go to public schools.