HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Agana Heights Elementary School has become the seventh school of 41 operated by the Guam Department of Education to come into compliance with local sanitation regulations as the school year marches forward.
The elementary school received 39 demerit points and a grade of “C,” the lowest score possible while still passing, according to an inspection report from the Department of Public Health and Social Services Division of Environmental Health. More than 40 demerit points results in failure.
The school also has opted to self-condemn a shower room and an area adjacent to a stairwell leading to the campus E Wing.
Notable violations identified following an inspection on Aug. 23 include:
- Inadequate vector control, meaning steps taken to prevent disease-spreading pests, in a classroom, the school’s main office, several storage rooms and a restroom.
- Inadequate ventilation and unclean ventilation system filters in 10 classrooms, various restrooms, the library and other school areas.
- Inadequate air temperature in four classrooms, several restrooms and other areas of the school.
- A number of restrooms failing to meet requirements.
- Inadequate lighting in several classrooms, classroom restrooms, a hallway and various other areas of the school.
- Lack of approved waste receptacles in 19 classrooms, the school library and office areas.
- Floors in disrepair in several classrooms, storage rooms and administrative offices.
- Walls and ceilings in disrepair.
- Exits not easily accessible, marked and inward-opening in classrooms and other areas through the school.
GDOE leadership in a news release celebrated the sanitary inspection passage for Agana Heights Elementary.
“GDOE congratulates Dr. Jolene Cabrera and the team at Agana Heights Elementary School for their commitment to our students,” the department said in the release.
Cabrera extended thanks to school staff, Department of Youth Affairs summer interns, the GDOE Facilities and Maintenance Division, the AHES Parent-Teacher Organization and the Agana Heights mayor, mayoral staff and Department of Youth Affairs summer interns, according to the release.
Though schools may continue to operate without a valid sanitary permit through the end of the school year, GDOE is aiming to have all 41 schools that it operates passing sanitation inspections by April 2024.
Besides Agana Heights Elementary, the following schools have passed their respective sanitation inspections:
- Inalåhan Elementary School.
- John F. Kennedy High School.
- Talo’fo’fo’ Elementary School.
- Luis P. Untalan Middle School.
- Tiyan High School.
- B.P. Carbullido Elementary School.
Five-year-old kindergartner Dorian Bakker, center, is picked up by his father, Dennis Bakker, left, on his first day at Agana Heights Elementary School on Aug. 23, 2023.
