HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — More Guam public school students are headed back to the classroom full-time, a return to their home campuses for some, and the end of alternating schedules for others.
“You’re aware we’ve had some campuses that have been doubled up, and we’ve been able to make a great deal of progress on decoupling student bodies. So, this week in fact, on Wednesday, … Tamuning Elementary School went back to full schedule with all of their students in session at the same time,” Guam Department of Education Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson reported to the legislative Committee on Education during the committee’s GDOE oversight hearing held Thursday.
School year 2023-2024 began with three school schedules, based on the scope of work needed to comply with school sanitary building codes at each school and the likelihood of passing a Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services sanitary inspection.
“Adacao Elementary School is pending (a) health inspection and our team has actively been preparing the school to come back into full schedule. … They’re nearly ready,” Swanson said.
Repair work completed at Inarajan Middle School brings an end to the alternating school schedules there. Swanson confirmed all IMS students will go to school five days a week, starting Monday.
“Jose Rios Middle school, as well, because we have been able to complete the air conditioning installation and provide enough classrooms for them all to be there at the same time. We estimate Jose Rios will be back to full operation on the 7th of February,” Swanson said.
Adacao Elementary, which failed an inspection in April, is scheduled to be inspected in the coming week, he said.
“One of the things that we have had to do (is) … shift our focus to moving (the) school out of the double-up environment. We took some of our facilities and maintenance staff off the preparation for inspection to have more hands on to get those schools ready to go because I want to be able to get everybody back in their own campus on a full schedule,” Swanson said.
In a northern community forum just days before the oversight hearing, stakeholders raised concerns about double session shortchanging students. At that meeting, Sen. Chris Barnett read letters he received that were written by John F. Kennedy High School students who are doubling up with Simon Sanchez High School students.
“’I am a student from JFK and I don’t approve of the double sessioning going on with Simon Sanchez. Students from both schools are losing education due to the lack of time that we are in school. Our classes are shortened to only an hour, and we don’t have enough time to learn the things that we need to. Also, having to wake up really early for school has been really hard for me and my family. To add to that, I don’t think students can function properly at this early of a schedule,’” Barnett said, reading a student’s letter.
Having received about 100 letters from students, Barnett said the forum was a “wake-up call.”
“I think that we’ve lost sight of the impact that this is having on our students,” Barnett said.
“I want to thank you for attempting to knock out all the double sessions, the alternating school schedules and the cohorts because those are posing similar challenges (to those) that we’re seeing at JFK and Sanchez,” Barnett said.
Harry S. Truman Elementary School and Marcial Sablan Elementary School are the next two schools on the inspection schedule, according to Swanson.
“Then we’ll have our teams back at work moving ahead of the inspection process,” Swanson said.
To date, 15 out of 41 schools have passed sanitary inspection, with a total of 16 schools inspected. Swanson committed previously to having all GDOE schools inspected and passed by April 2024.
Under current law, sanitary permits expire every June 30, but Bill 226-37, authorized by education committee Chair Barnett, is up for a public hearing on Tuesday.
If successful, as written, the bill would change the renewal date of sanitary permits to the anniversary of the date of issuance.
