Education officials grill Education Department superintendent on textbooks in landfill

How did a number of textbooks end up dumped in a landfill? 

That's the question that Guam Education Board officials had for the Guam Department of Education’s superintendent during a heated board meeting Tuesday.

GEB Chair Dr. Mary Okada revealed that pallets of textbooks, some still in brand new condition, had been tossed out after campus cleanups.

“Please find out who authorized the textbooks to be dumped in the landfill, and hold them accountable because that is a destruction of government property,” said Okada. 

A seemingly stunned GDOE Superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Swanson, insisted that he ordered all surplus textbooks to be palletized and stored in a warehouse but Okada countered with documentation that directed textbooks not be brought to a Piti warehouse. 

“There is documentation for the 198 pallets, and now, all of a sudden, it has been reduced,” said Okada. 

The blunder follows weeks of advocacy from the former acting GDOE superintendent and the Governor’s Chief Education Advisor, Dr. Judi Won Pat, who had urged that these textbooks be sent to outer island communities.

“Speaker Won Pat has been advocating for weeks now to have all these textbooks delivered to the outer islands,” said Okada. 

Meantime, GEB member Maria Gutierrez also pointed out she witnessed textbooks wasting away at multiple school sites.

Now, the pressure is on for the superintendent to get to the bottom of the unnecessary waste of government property.