HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The timeline to choose what schools to decommission is tight, and the Guam Department of Education is moving quickly to have the difficult conversation about which schools to shut down with the community.
There’s a lot of speculation about what campuses will be on the chopping block for decommissioning, but that decision won’t be made for a couple of weeks. Currently, education officials want to meet with parents and students.
“This initiative is a response to the changing needs of the student population and aims to optimize resources and facilities,” a GDOE press release on Saturday said. “The community’s input is crucial in this process to ensure a smooth transition for students, families, and staff.”
The department can’t definitively say what contributed to the decline in student population but said indicators point toward families relocating off-island and a decrease in school-aged children.
With the student population down to 24,322, the decommissioning of schools is set to occur within one to three years.
The first community informational briefing and input session will be held with the southern region Tuesday, April 9 at Southern High School, followed by the central region Wednesday, April 10 at Price Elementary School and the northern region Thursday, April 11 at Wettengel Elementary School.
All sessions will also be streamed through Zoom and can be accessed with meeting ID: 590 729 7795. The meetings start at 6 p.m.
GDOE met last week with internal stakeholders, school staff and faculty and the Guam Federation of Teachers, among others, to discuss the timeline and plan moving forward with the decommissioning.
Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson asserted that when the rightsizing of schools is completed, the operating capacities would be between 85% and 90% to allow room for growth and adjustment as student populations fluctuate in the years ahead.
GDOE will be creating a subcommittee that will oversee staff and faculty reassignments, the redistribution of resources such as textbooks, computers, laptops, student desks, chairs and the like. Reassignments for faculty, such as teachers, will be made in compliance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s student-teacher ratios.
Recent efforts to maximize resources through cross-leveling brought teacher vacancies from over 300 down to 60 across the district. GDOE still needs to cross-level support staff such as school aides, federal aides or one-to-one aides.
The decommissioning of schools will also allow for GDOE to better live within their means, as local budgets are tight and consistently at a shortfall. In years past, the gap has been $30 million annually. And with the department’s late submission of the fiscal year 2025 budget request of $303 million, the department’s purse strings are short.
“Our budget for the coming year, … utility costs alone, are significant,” Swanson said, further adding that as the department “moves into an environment without American Rescue Plan funding” GDOE must be “prudent” when it comes to expenditures.
The reduction in footprint aims to maximize district resources.
During the April 5 meeting with school staff and faculty from elementary and secondary levels, GDOE officials noted that population, location, cost, population projections and community impact would be factored in to determine whether a school should be decommissioned.
A school that is decommissioned would still be maintained by GDOE for future use as a school should the need arise, but during the time a school is not operational, it could be used for other purposes.
“DOE is one of the only agencies that continue to operate their own facilities. I think there’s very few. DOE, (Department of Public Works and) others. A lot of others rent. So really, any other agencies that are renting right now who might need to have a facility that they don’t have to rent anymore, they can utilize one of our schools,” GDOE Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instructional Improvement Joe Sanchez said.
This is not the first time for schools to be decommissioned, J.P. Torres Success Academy’s campus in Sånta Rita-Sumai and F.Q. Sanchez Elementary School in Humåtak were turned over to their respective village mayors.
There has also been discussion by the Department of Defense Education Activity about the possibility of leasing GDOE schools to account for the military buildup, but according to Swanson, “that discussion has gone quiet.”
The Guam Department of Education headquarters is seen Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Tiyan.
