It’s less than 48 hours before the new start day for public school arrives and it has already been delayed a week.

Today, officials confirmed 24 public schools are ready to open their doors and welcome students this Thursday.

This after education officials confirmed during a briefing with the public today that Astumbo Middle School passed its sanitary inspection alongside Marcial Sablan Elementary.

To note, both schools were already announced as ready to open by Aug. 15 in statements from GDOE. 

Meantime, inspections are currently underway at Ordot-Chalan-Pago Elementary School. However, should the Home of the Ants pass by tomorrow, the school community should expect a start date for Friday, Aug. 13.

Parents and students will get at least 24-hours notice if you're still waiting on a start date. 

Again, this all depends on the remaining schools getting a passing grade from Public Health.

Some good news though, GDOE expects all students to be in a learning setting by Thursday, Aug. 22. That final plan will be discussed in tomorrow's Guam Education Board emergency meeting and then shared with the community. 

Officials have two options planned for students without a campus, which include alternating days in person coupled with online learning. 

“Certainly, by Friday, everybody should know, and certainly by Friday or Thursday the 22nd of next week, every student who requires an education on Guam in the public schools will have some form of learning. One thing that we’ll stress is that although we did have an option of double sessions for these schools (except for JFK and Okkodo High schools with Simon Sanchez and FB Leon Guerrero), There will be no other schools in double sessions,” said GEB Vice-Chair Angel Sablan. 

You can watch the full GDOE press conference on KUAM News Facebook page. 

Meantime, an oversight hearing on school openings and inspections is set for next Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Guam Congress building.