FINDING solutions to the ever-increasing problems faced by the Guam Public School System is by no means an easy task. I, for one, will not offer sarcasm, place blame, make accusations, nor consider myself wise.
I will share my experiences with school systems with the People of Guam and let them decide if there is any truth to these solutions and if there are, to take them to the Legislature, the Guam Board of Education, and to the present governor in residence, and finally, the elected attorney general.
To begin, we ought to start thinking outside the box and go back to basics:
Problem: High electrical bills
Solution:
• Get rid of air conditioners. GPSS should hold public auctions to sell them and recoup some of the costs of purchasing and maintaining them.
• Renovate schools that can be renovated by tearing down the concrete walls of both the windward and leeward side of school buildings to take advantage of natural wind ventilation.
• On nice sunny days, have their classes outside. Take advantage of the fresh air. Students are invigorated by the scenic outdoors and even help improve their mental attitude.
Note of interest: Perhaps GPSS should take a look at schools in China. They are quite austere. There are a lot of windows, no air conditioners, and are no-nonsense buildings.
Problem: High janito rial services bills
Solution:
• Have teachers and students responsible for keeping their classrooms clean. It worked when I was in elementary school and it taught me to be responsible for myself and for others. Education is not just about academic study, but also about social participation and responsibility.
• Create disciplinary procedures (outside of Special Education) that allow for school-related community services. As an example, students who are caught smoking in school restrooms may be assigned clean up duties around the school campus. Of course, those students should be properly instructed and educated on the safe handling of chemicals and solvents used in cleaning restrooms, walls, floors, etc.
• Privatize building maintenance services and only hire services on an “as needed basis” from private companies. Have a skeletal crew of repairmen available for “emergency only” tasking.
• Implement a program where school bus drivers are assigned additional duties at schools on their regular bus routes. Of course, cross-training programs would be developed so that bus drivers acquire other skills that are needed in school building maintenance.
Problem: High administrative costs
Solution:
• The Board of Education ought to review and revamp policy on how schools and central administration should be staffed. The following solutions are offered:
o Every school, regardless of number of students, should have one and only one principal.
o The Board of Education could develop policy and procedures empowering school principals to create and maintain functional teacher committees to address student disciplinary, curriculum, maintenance, etc. at the school building level. The savings on administrative costs of reducing administrative staffing could in turn be used to pay teachers to accept additional duties outside of the classroom.
Problem: Top-heavy central office administration
Solution: Organizational Restructuring
• The Board of Education ought to review and revamp the entire process of central office staff. Nothing is written in stone and therefore, outside of legally enforceable federal and local laws, the board could re-design the make-up of central office.
Note: One of the most wasteful activities based on my experience as a teacher and administrator is the amount of paperwork that is generated on a daily basis from central office to the schools and back. It taxes the equipment used in schools and at central. Paperwork reduction policies ought to be implemented to save on costly repairs and maintenance of the many office equipment located at the central office and at the schools.
• The Board of Education ought to revisit the organizational and functional chart of the central office and look for duplications of efforts, waste, etc., and streamline central office.
• The Board of Education should request central office to have its statistical officer, Dr. Shaffer, conduct an analysis of how each administrator spends his/her time on a daily basis for one week. Make an analysis of these records, and I am guessing that there may be some interesting insights as to duplication of efforts, excessive and inefficient meetings conducted, etc.
• A suggestion may be in order:
o Access to the Superintendent of Education by school building principals should be limited. Principals should form Principals’ Committees in each level (elementary, middle, high) and the elected principal (the presiding chair of each level) report directly to the Superintendent. Of course, enabling policies and procedures ought to be established by the Education Board with input from the Superintendent.
• Implement cross-training and cross-certification programs for central office administrators so that one administrator could easily maintain multi-functional responsibilities, i.e. Associate Superintendent in charge of Elementary, Secondary, High School, and Special Education Curriculum. Perhaps future position descriptions would include the requirement of educational training and experience in all fields of educational administration.
For what its worth, and it may very well not be worth an ounce of salt, but at least solutions are offered. This letter will just be another one of those letters to the editor that is read and then discarded. I hope not, and that it at the very least inspires others to do the same for the sake of our progeny.

FRANKLIN ROBERT PEREZ
Presently in Shanyang, China