HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Only six schools will be refurbished under school refurbishment projects, instead of the districtwide approach originally intended.
“The school refurbishment projects, … the bid came in several hundred millions of dollars over the budget we had. So in order not to lose the funding we do have through the (American Rescue Plan) I’ve made the determination to target specific schools in that project,” Guam Department of Education Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson told the legislative committee on education Monday.
The six schools identified by Swanson are George Washington High School, Oceanview Middle School, Agueda I. Johnston Middle School, Inarajan Middle School, Ordot-Chalan Pago Elementary School, D.L. Perez Elementary School and Tamuning Elementary School.
“That will leave (an) approximate balance of about $7 million for contingencies. If we don’t run into additional charges on these projects, we will likely add another school,” Swanson said.
“The range of estimates, building by building, is from $6 million to $20 million depending on the campus. High school campuses obviously are the most expensive,” Swanson added.
Reallocation changes for the projects have been submitted to the U.S. Department of Education.
“What they have to do is change the category from where it’s reserved so when the allocation goes through and the billing happens, it all matches,” Swanson said.
The general contractor for the projects is Core Tech International Corp. The Guam Daily Post is affiliated with Core Tech.
“There’s four different contracts, one for each region of the system. They won the bid for all of them. So as soon as that contract language is finalized and approved by the attorney general and the governor, they’ll start work,” Swanson said.
The first step in the process is coordinating the campus work with school principals.
“To ensure that student safety is a factor and that contractor access is available so that they can do the work as needed,” Swanson said.
Legislative committee on education chair, Sen. Chris Barnett, however, was disappointed to hear that only six schools would be refurbished.
“I’m disappointed because I didn’t find this out. I mean, I know we had spoken about it, but I found out from facilities and maintenance when I was on site at Marcial Sablan Elementary School. A staff there showed me a bathroom that is supposed to be closed off, but because it’s the only bathroom (in) that area around those classrooms, the students are using (it), and it’s terrible. Bathroom sinks are rusted (and) doors (are) falling apart,” Barnett said.
Marcial Sablan Elementary School is not on the list for any of the refurbishment contracts. Barnett wanted answers as to why the department went from refurbishment projects across the district to only six schools.
“The schools that we have scheduled are the ones that we know … that we can actually execute. And they are, after our examination and by comparison, they’re in the greatest level of need. There is no argument that we need to do the entire district. The contract bid came back at the level that it did, which was way beyond the expectation,” Swanson said, as he noted that the preparation for the project was done before he became the superintendent.
Swanson stressed that he wants to add to the list “but to get to all 40 campuses – that’s a really, really a tall order, and we don’t have the funding to do it at this point.”
He noted that GDOE is looking into grant funding from the Department of Agriculture, but it’s not “concrete.” He also said GDOE is working with the Department of Defense Education Activity schools.
“Because they are anticipating that the ramp up that they are seeing in the eligible students to attend DODEA schools will exceed their capacity, so they are interested in doing renovation and repair work in some of our campuses that are adjacent to Andersen (Air Force Base) and the Navy base,” Swanson said.
Swanson stressed that what he can’t do is allow the ARP funds to lapse or be lost.
“That’s certainly unacceptable,” he said.
Regarding facilities and maintenance and capital improvements, Swanson shared that after several years of being condemned, the George Washington High School gym will reopen its doors when students return from Christmas break.
“The GW high school gym is completed. We signed off on the completion with the contractor last week. He’s cleaning up and moving his equipment out of the area, so students can resume using that facility on the second of January,” Swanson said.
The next project on GDOE’s radar is the refurbishment of F.B. Leon Guerrero Middle School.
“That project bid has been awarded, and we’re in the process now of adding funding to it because the bid came in over the projected level. But we have that process in motion with U.S. (DOE) to see our American Rescue Plan Act funds. We need to add another $2.5 million to the project,” Swanson said.
The contractor will have one year to refurbish the school, which means by this time next year, F.B.L.G. students will be back on their home campus.
George Washington High School on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, in Mangilao.
