GDOE inches closer to opening all campuses by the end of the month

The Guam Department of Education is closing in on the finish line, with only a few schools left to inspect. It’s forward momentum keeping education officials confident that every school community will be back on their home campuses by the end of the month.

Is the largest agency in the government of Guam closer to having all students back in the classroom? The goal was to do so by the end of September. With only 13 days left on the calendar and four schools still closed, education officials are seemingly optimistic. 

Guam Education Board vice chair Angel Sablan confirming Tuesday that both J.Q San Miguel Elementary and Price Elementary have completed Public Health inspections, though their results have not yet been released.  “Hopefully, we can all be smiling by the end of today or by tomorrow. But when those reports come out, and it’s a pass, those two elementary schools will open sometime this week. Probably the earliest will be Thursday or Friday," he said.

As KUAM previously reported, the student bodies of J.Q. San Miguel and Price are on alternating schedules with C.L. Taitano Elementary School and M.U. Lujan Elementary School, respectively. 

As for Southern High School, GDOE superintendent Dr. Kenneth Swanson says the Home of the Dolphins is up for reinspection by the end of this week or by the top of next week at the latest. 

Meanwhile, more resources are being poured into campuses still needing some extra TLC.  “We’re shifting our maintenance resources to Inarajan Middle School and Chief Brodie Elementary School to get those two buildings up to standard to pass inspections and could be re-opened,' said Swanson.

Come October, four schools: Agana Heights, C.L. Taitano, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Tamuning Elementary Schools are all up for reinspections, which will kick off a new inspection pattern. 

"Once those are done, we can start to build a schedule to do one or two schools a month for the foreseeable future," the superintendent said.

That schedule looks to come with its own set of challenges, according to the superintendent. He says he previously requested the legislature consider putting schools on a two-year renewal cycle. 

 “So we aren’t constantly doing all the intervention work that needs to be done without having enough resources–then also, to spend time doing normal maintenance that’ll keep us from ever going back to where we just dug out of," he added.

In the meantime, the GEB is also meeting this evening to discuss GDOE's budget allotment schedule and the superintendent's evaluation.