[CORRECTION (1:10 p.m., Saturday, August 17, 2024): Kandit corrected the second full paragraph of this story regarding kindergarten students. The previous version 0f this article included kindergarten students among the exceptions to the alternating schedule. This information was based on information spoken by GDOE officials at their daily school readiness news conference Friday. Kandit was told by GDOE officials today that the official misspoke and accidentally included kindergarten students in that news conference.]
According to the Guam Department of Education superintendent Erik Swanson:
The Guam public elementary schools that will not have passed public health inspection by next week Thursday, August 22, will share campuses with a nearby school that does have a sanitary permit. Those schools will operate on alternating schedules, with the “guest” schools starting on August 22, then alternating with the “host” school attending campus on Friday, August 23, then the guest school on Monday, August 26, then the host school on Tuesday, etc.
The exception to the alternating schedule for the affected elementary schools will be all the students in the pre-k, pre-GATE, and Headstart programs. Those students in those programs in the “host” school (the school that has the sanitary permit, is open, and is sharing its campus with its “guest” school) will attend classes every school day and will not alternate. The pre-k, pre-GATE, and Headstart students of the “guest” school will not be back in school until their school’s campus passes public health inspection and the school reopens.
The public middle and high schools that will not have passed public health inspection by next Thursday will have their teachers teaching and students learning online. Hard copies will be an option, especially for students who live in southern villages, where all three major internet carriers have been struggling with connectivity issues, according to Guam Education Board vice chairman Angel Sablan.
The middle and high school special education students who need face-to-face attention will have the option to attend classes at an open campus. Those decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Below is a list of the remaining schools that have yet to pass public health inspection. For the elementary schools, we display the list in pairs that show which school with a sanitary permit is hosting which school community that will temporarily be alternating days with the host school. Please keep in mind that rapid changes will happen to this list as GDOE and its partners prepare more schools for and get them to pass public health inspections. For example, as soon as “guest” school Machananao Elementary School gets permitted, those students will be moving back to the Machananao campus, and both Machananao and its current “host,” Astumbo Elementary School will go back to a daily class schedule.
HOST: Astumbo Elementary School
GUEST: Machananao Elementary School
HOST: Wettengel Elementary School
GUEST: D.L. Perez Elementary School
HOST: Adacao Elementary School
GUEST: Upi Elementary School
HOST: C.L. Taitano Elementary School
GUEST: J.Q. San Miguel Elementary School
HOST: M.U. Lujan Elementary School
GUEST: Price Elementary School
HOST: B.P. Carbullido Elementary School
GUEST: P.C. Lujan Elementary School
HOST: Maria Ulloa Elementary School
GUEST: Finegayan Elementary School
*HOST: J.M. Guerrero Elementary School
*GUEST: Chief Brodie Elementary School
*J.M. Guerrero’s inspection happened today. As of the publication of this story, GDOE has not announced whether the campus has passed inspection, though the superintendent expects that it will.
The following middle and high schools will be going into the online learning model. Once one of these schools pass public health inspection, that school will go back to face-to-face classroom instruction:
Inarajan Middle School
V.S.A. Benavente Middle School
Jose Rios Middle School
**F.B.L.G. Middle School
**Okkodo High School
Southern High School
G.W. High School
**FBLG’s campus has been closed down. The school community last school year shared Okkodo’s campus on a double session schedule, which is the plan for this school year as soon as Okkodo is allowed to open and untill FBLG can return to its Yigo campus.
GDOE is preparing for the inspection of Okkodo and Southern High Schools next week. It has prioritized the readiness and opening of the middle and especially the high schools in order to get students out of the online learning mode as quickly as possible.
Mr. Swanson said – barring unforeseen events that can always disrupt progress – his agency is looking at all available campuses being permitted by the end of September.
