HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) —
The Guam Education Board directed the Guam Department of Education superintendent to ask the Guam Legislature to waive the 180-instructional-day mandate for this school year.
Last week, the GEB approved the 2023-2024 school year calendar and, in doing so, also confirmed that the instructional day mandate would not be met for some public school students.
“This school year we will not meet our 180 instructional days or its equivalence – not for all schools. Remember, some schools were alternating (in) double sessions,” board member Lou Benavente said.
The late start to the school year, Typhoon Bolaven and the modified school schedules contributed to the need to request for the waiver.
“The request for the waiver for the 180 days is because the closures from (Department of Public Health and Social Services) inspection (and) professional development days were front-loaded. We didn’t open on time, so they were front-loaded. Those took away. Those were some days they did at the beginning of the year. There are no additional available (days). Schools have no other makeup days identified to make up any other closures due to natural disasters or inspections,” Benavente said.
In the past, GDOE was granted two waivers as a result of COVID-19 pandemic school closures. However, at the time the second waiver was granted, lawmakers warned the department that they needed a plan in place to ensure that in the event schools had to close for any reason, the instructional mandate would still be met.
GDOE assured the Legislature at the time that the online learning platform would allow the department to meet that requirement. However, at the beginning of school year 2023-2024, GDOE was against utilizing the online platform, and students on modified school schedules were shorted instructional days.
Furthermore, despite GDOE Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson assuring Sen. Chris Barnett, the chairman of the legislative committee on education, that students were receiving asynchronous work on their off days, Barnett received reports from parents that it was not the case.
The GEB last week concurred with its chair, Mary Okada, and confirmed that online learning didn’t start for some schools until after concerns about meeting the 180 instructional day mandate were raised by the board.
If a waiver is not granted by the Legislature, the board noted that there are options to meet the mandate, but it would require funding.
“First, they would extend the school year and pay teachers for additional days. (Adding) additional minutes to the school days is another one,” Benavente said.
However, the second option does open up a concern about the transportation of students to and from school.
“The way everything is now with double session and all that, and schools will vary with schedules, the alternating schools, … it’s going to be chaos,” Benavente said.
Education officials do not know how much additional funding would be needed to extend the school year and have not yet identified the schools impacted.
However, based on the school schedules identified at the beginning of the school year, the following schools could be affected by an extended school year or school day:
• Liguan Elementary School
• Tamuning Elementary School
• D.L. Perez Elementary School
• Upi Elementary School
• Juan M. Guerrero Elementary School
• Adacao Elementary School
• Maria A. Ulloa Elementary School
• Wettengel Elementary School
• Inarajan Middle School
• Vicente S.A. Benavente Middle School
• Astumbo Middle School
• Jose Rios Middle School
• F.B. Leon Guerrero Middle School
• Simon Sanchez High School
• John F. Kennedy High School
• Okkodo High School
Simon Sanchez High School students wait for the campus to open Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, at John F. Kennedy High School in Tamuning.
