Acting Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores, center, recounts to visiting Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, left, and her team how Super Typhoon Yutu destroyed six of Hopwood Middle School’s nine buildings. Criswell and her team toured Hopwood on Monday.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell listens to Acting Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores as she pleads for Hopwood’s speedy reconstruction.
(PSS) — Visiting Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell on Monday saw in person the damage caused by Super Typhoon Yutu at Hopwood Middle School. Six of the school’s nine buildings were destroyed by Yutu, which devastated Saipan and Tinian in October 2018.
In related news, the U.S. Department of Education approved on Friday last week the request of the Public School System to reprogram a portion of its American Rescue Plan Act grant money for the procurement of modular and portable prefabricated classrooms for Hopwood.
On Monday, Criswell and other FEMA officials met with acting Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores and together with Hopwood Middle School Principal Victorino Borja, they inspected the condemned school buildings at Hopwood. Commissioner of Education Lawrence Camacho, Ed.D. was in the U.S. to attend an official conference.
Criswell vowed to help expedite the reconstruction and/or repair of the school buildings.
“There are a lot of memories here,” Flores told Criswell. “It is one of the oldest schools in the CNMI, and its former students are now parents and stakeholders of our community, and their children are also attending Hopwood,” Flores added.
“Now that you are here, we hope that we will finally see the realization of a new Hopwood Middle School campus,” she said.
Criswell acknowledged Flores’ plea. “You have me pushing for it,” she said, referring to the school’s reconstruction. “This is really … a beautiful property.”
Saipan was part of Criswell’s visit to jurisdictions with FEMA-funded projects. She flew in from the nation’s capital to Saipan on Monday. On Thursday, she and her team headed to Guam before flying to Maui, Hawaii.
Approved
The U.S. Department of Education, for its part, will allow PSS to tap a portion of its ARPA funds to acquire 20 modular classrooms at Hopwood.
This good news was shared by Flores with Criswell.
In 2020, FEMA announced that it had awarded $25.112 million for the repair and/or replacement of Hopwood’s buildings.
Of this amount, a portion was set aside for modular classrooms. However, unforeseen factors caused a delay in procurement.
At the time, Hopwood classes were held in FEMA-built temporary classrooms located on the Koblerville Elementary School soccer field.
Later, after 19 classrooms at Hopwood were renovated, students returned to the campus.
This year, PSS Federal Programs Officer Jacqueline Che followed up on the request for a waiver so that PSS could use some of its ARPA money for the procurement of modular classrooms.
In an email, Iztali Ortiz, the U.S. Department of Education’s program officer for the ARP to Outlying Areas, informed Che that PSS’s request has been approved.
“Now that the PSS-ARP grant will fund the modular classrooms, the full amount of $25.1 million from FEMA will go toward repairs and building construction,” Che said.
Acting Commissioner of Education Flores said PSS is now working with various local and federal agencies, including the Office of the Governor’s Public Assistance Office and FEMA, in securing the required permits for the demolition of the six condemned buildings at Hopwood to pave the way for the construction of modular classrooms.
The demolition work is scheduled to begin this month.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, right, Acting Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores, left, and other PSS and FEMA officials tour Hopwood Middle School on Monday.
Acting Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores, left, gestures as she briefs FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and her delegation during a tour of Hopwood Middle School on Monday.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Acting Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores look at one of the Hopwood school buildings damaged by Super Typhoon Yutu.
