HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Proposals to let Typhoon Mawar-damaged public schools reopen before they receive, or pass, a sanitary inspection may be closer to becoming law.
Lawmakers spent Wednesday’s emergency legislative session on the dire state of the Guam Department of Education, debating how closely to follow the mandate that local public schools close down if they fail inspection.
Public Law 37-4 passed unanimously in March, pushing the deadline for GDOE to clear out pest infestations, mold and other sanitary violations by June instead of next summer. GDOE came under fire at the time for poor conditions at schools, some of which have gone years without getting a sanitary inspection.
But with the public school system facing major issues after Mawar struck in May and the Aug. 23 start of the school year looming, Superintendent Kenneth Swanson told senators Tuesday that it’s impossible to follow the mandate and get kids back to school on time.
The Department of Public Health and Social Services won’t be able to inspect every public school by Aug. 23 either, according to Francine Salas, acting chief environmental health officer. Moving at a rate of three schools a week, the current estimate is December.
The Republican minority caucus, led by Sen. Frank Blas Jr., proposed Bill 159-37 on Tuesday afternoon. It would postpone the mandate that schools comply with sanitary regulations until school year 2024-2025, the original deadline for compliance. Democrat Sen. Dwyane San Nicolas signed on in support.
Bill 159 would require GDOE to submit monthly status reports on how close each public school is to complying with sanitary regulations and what steps are being taken to fix violations. GDOE also would be subject to monthly oversight hearings until all schools are in compliance.
With support from the Republican caucus and San Nicolas, Bill 159 has at least seven guaranteed votes and would need support from only one other lawmaker to pass.
It’s unlikely Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero would veto the measure as the administration in recent months has expressed its opposition to letting the sanitation compliance deadline set in P.L. 37-4 stand.
Tempers flare
Bill 159 moved onto the emergency session agenda Wednesday despite opposition from Speaker Therese Terlaje. The speaker declined to certify there was an emergency need for both bills, stating they would place students back into unsafe conditions instead of addressing them. The move led to a shouting match between the speaker and Blas on the session floor.
“I wouldn’t be standing here arguing for this piece of legislation,” Blas told his colleagues, “had we not had a natural disaster that we had to deal with. We’re still dealing with a natural disaster. I don’t know about you, but last night I had a rolling power outage.”
More time was needed to get schools in compliance, but kids have to get back into a learning environment in the meantime, Blas said. Regular oversight hearings would hold GDOE accountable until then, he added.
“We’re not saying to repeal the mandate … that the (Guam) Department of Education will have schools in full compliance,” Blas said. “What we’re saying is, let’s give them some of the leeway.”
Education committee Chair Sen. Chris Barnett, who championed getting schools into compliance sooner after he was elected, blasted the proposal.
“This bill will send our kids into schools that are not safe. That’s why I’m confused about what we’re doing here. Because the Guam Department of Education has had the opportunity in the past to make determinations about how safe and sanitary our schools are. And they have failed that responsibility,” Barnett said. “(GDOE is) working very hard to open as many schools as they can by Aug. 23, and beyond Aug. 23 (it) will continue to work very hard to open more schools.”
Barnett has backed Terlaje’s proposal to keep the sanitation regulation deadline but give schools more flexibility on sanitary violations they are working to rectify. Keeping the deadline in place would force GDOE and the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration to come through quickly on delivering safer schools for kids, the senator said.
Sen. Chris Duenas, a cosponsor of Bill 159, said allowing sanitation regulations to stay in effect would stall two of GDOE’s biggest needs for reopening, making any small changes unlikely to help.
Public Health made it clear it’s not going to move on two major issues, namely, letting teachers back onto unsanitary campuses; and allowing schools to close off unsafe sections of the campus and reopen, Duenas said.
Though he was often disappointed by how the administration handled local schools, “there comes a time when we have to make a decision, because the people who are stuck in the middle are parents and children. They won’t be the final arbiters of whether or not the schools are ready for their kids to go. I just want to give them an opportunity,” he said.
San Nicolas also spoke in support of the bill and said it wouldn’t put any child in harm’s way. The former school counselor previously said he was completely opposed to double session for kids, as he had seen its effect on learning.
“All (the bill) does is just allows us to take a step back, take a little bit of a breather. … Let them do their job,” he said.
San Nicolas has introduced his own solution to the school debacle, Bill 158-37, which would let GDOE operate any schools that haven’t been inspected yet and let the superintendent keep any schools that have failed inspections open through the upcoming school year. The measure is also on the agenda.
Swanson this week told lawmakers that he wouldn’t let teachers or students into unsafe areas, but he believed he could make the decision about whether schools that might technically fail their sanitation inspection were in good enough shape to reopen.
Senators continued debate on Bill 159 into Wednesday afternoon.
Sen. Frank Blas Jr. speaks during emergency session at the Guam Congress Building in Hagåtña on June 19, 2023. Speaker Therese Terlaje and Blas had a heated exchange on the session floor Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.
