HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Inarajan Middle School and George Washington High School are the worst off when it comes to meeting the school sanitary building codes, according to Guam Department of Education officials.
The two schools are among the nine campuses that will not be inspected by the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services until April 2024, as reported by GDOE during an oversight hearing last week.
“The schools scheduled for April … are the Phase III schools that would take the most work to pass inspection. We placed the high schools still to be inspected because the high school campuses may offer more possible demerits because (of) their size and complexity, and we don’t want to have a school close prior to graduation,” GDOE Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson said.
In addition to the Inalåhan and Mangilao campuses, Astumbo Middle School, Agueda Johnston Middle School, Southern High School, Jose Rios Middle School, Untalan Middle School, Okkodo High School and Oceanview Middle School are scheduled for April inspections.
Based on a report GDOE provided to senators which showed how each school faired in self-inspections conducted by the schools, as compared to inspections conducted by GDOE’s facilities and maintenance teams, the nine schools had the following demerits.
Schools’ self-inspection, GDOE inspection
Inarajan Middle 63, 73
George Washington High 64, 72
Astumbo Middle: 62, 64
Agueda Johnston Middle: 63, 63
Southern High: 52, 62
Jose Rios Middle: 62, 62
Untalan Middle: 35, 58
Okkodo High: 48, 53
Oceanview Middle: 49, 53
41 demerits or more result in a failed inspection and school closure, a scenario that already has played out this school year.
Permit expirations
As it stands, sanitary permits for all 41 schools expire every June 30, a mandate that education officials and the chair of the Legislature’s Committee on Education believe could put GDOE and Public Health in the same predicament they are in now, trying to juggle compliance.
“I’ve done some initial research – not much, just a little bit – and I want to come up with a solution to this because I agree it is going to present some big problems come July 1 of next year,” Sen. Chris Barnett said.
By the start of school year 2024-2025, by law, all public schools must be in compliance with sanitary building codes.
“In my mind, I am anticipating come July 1, we are going to be stuck having to adjust and wait for Public Health to inspect these schools and I understand that prior to this school year schools weren’t ready, but I think things are going to be a lot more fluid next year,” Barnett said.
Swanson requested that senators consider adjusting the expiration date of sanitary permits by having them expire on the anniversary of the issuance of the permit, as opposed to the blanket expiration on June 30.
Barnett said the committee wants to address the subject, but its members have to be cautious.
“At the same time, I don’t want to go and set a standard and then weaken the standard. So I am trying to figure out how we can do it without any unintentional consequences,” Barnett said.
George Washington High School is seen April 4, 2023, in Mangilao.
