Tim Thornburgh, PSS federal programs officer, said the projects will help ensure that the children will experience better learning through an improved environment.
Asked when the projects will start, he replied: “As soon as we are able to get sufficient federal grants then we will really know when the projects will take off.”
He said the projects include:
• Twenty additional classrooms — Garapan Elementary School, 4; San Vincente Elementary School, 4; Dandan Elementary School, 3; Koblerville Elementary School, 3; Oleai Elementary School, 2; Kagman Elementary School, 2; and Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, 2.
This will allow 900 five-year-old children to have the benefit of full-day kindergarten classes.
PSS can only offer half-day kindergarten services to 600 children.
As a result, every year, 250-300 students enter first grade without attending kindergarten.
The lack of early learning opportunities place these children at a tremendous disadvantage compared to their classmates who have developed pre-reading, writing and numeracy skills through kindergarten attendance, education officials said.
Estimated cost: $120,000 X 20 classrooms = $2,400,000
• Eight additional classrooms for Saipan Southern High School which has a design capacity of 600 but has a current enrollment of 836 students. The result: classrooms with 32 students each.
The additional eight classrooms will reduce the teacher-student ratio from the current 32:1 to 23:1, which is still high compared to the national average of 16:1 but is below the CNMI Board of Education’s maximum ratio of 25:1.
Estimated cost: $120,000 X 8 classrooms = $960,000.
• A new cafeteria for Marianas High School. The old cafeteria was constructed in 1970 when the school population was 300. The population today is 1,225. PSS plans to use the design of San Vicente’s cafeteria for the new cafeteria of MHS.
Estimated cost: $1.1 million.
• A third junior high school in Koblerville to alleviate the overcrowding at Hopwood Junior High School.
The end result will be three junior high schools serving 500-600 students each.
PSS will locate the new school between the elementary and high school campuses in Koblerville.
This junior high school will have 24 classrooms, a cafeteria, library, a central office, PE, reading resource, SPED classrooms as well as a teacher’s lounge and student and teacher bathrooms.
Estimated cost: $4 million.
• Outdoor, covered gyms for Saipan Southern High School, Chacha Junior High School and Tinian High School.
There will also be a need for an indoor area for storage of equipment, offices and for a weight training room.
PSS intends to make these facilities as “green” as possible through the use of solar and wind energy.
Estimated cost: $1.2 million each X 3 = $3.6 million
• A six-classroom design for a second story to Bldg. “H” at San Vicente Elementary School and a similar six-classroom project for Tinian Elementary School.
Estimated cost: $800,000 x 2 = $1.6 million.
• The replacement of the aluminum louvers of Rota High School with typhoon-rated windows. This will create more energy efficient buildings as currently only the louvers keep the heat out. In addition to window replacement, there are a number of wood walls that will be converted to concrete block walls.
Estimated cost: $1.3 million.
• Dandan Elementary School was originally built as an “instant school” (wood and tin pre-fab units) in two months in 1998 with 18 classrooms designed to serve a population of 360 students. Today, the school houses 488 students and its population continues to grow. The current student-teacher ratio is 27:1 which is too high. PSS plans to add eight classrooms and increase the school’s capacity to 600 students.
Estimated cost: $120,000/classroom X 8 = $960,000
All these projects will cost $15.92 million. If the projected $580,000 in contingencies is added, the total cost will be $16.5 million.
