It’s almost unbelievable but not surprising that the government of Guam is in an eleventh-hour crisis to open public schools. That is the consensus building from readers around the fluid “decisions” from senators, the Guam Education Board, and the Guam Department of Education about the opening of public schools, which schools should open whenever that time comes, how long it will take to reopen the remaining schools, which schools will be on a modified schedule in order to accommodate other students, and when the new school year will end.
Add in now the lack of answers on details parents and school staff may want to know as another weekend passes without clarity from a GDOE management not responding to media inquiries about the basic answers parents, teachers, and other stakeholders want.
“Board of Education Members, how did this happen?” Roseanna Lastimoza questioned in the comments section of Kandit’s August 8 story, “GDOE’s failure to repair schools leads to confusion about school start date, fears some unsafe schools will open.” “Answer,” she demanded.
“The problem with GDOE is they always seem to just cover up the issues by putting a band aid over the problem, which makes it even harder to repair. Every single year they just band aid the issue over and over, year after year,” Lori Quichocho said.
“You guys waited [’til] the last minute to worry about the schools when you had all summer to do something,” Mary San Nicolas said.
As of Friday, GDOE has announced that 23 public schools will open on August 15. These are the schools that passed public health inspections and can therefore open, according to Guam law. The legislature has added to the confusion in the crisis, having spent the week leading up to the original opening date – August 8 – fighting about whether to repeal that law and allow GDOE officials to determine which schools are safe to open.
The same GDOE officials (and board members) who failed to get the schools ready in time for the August 8 scheduled opening. The same GDOE officials who failed to sound the alarm throughout the summer of the impending crisis.
The effort by Dwayne San Nicolas ultimately failed, twice.
So did a tangent effort by the governor to take over control of GDOE amid the chaos.
So, if 23 schools – as of Friday – will open on August 15, what about the remaining 18 campuses?
“We will update the community early next week on the results of schools pending DPHSS sanitation inspection,” is the only answer GDOE is providing this weekend. That answer comes from GDOE public information officer Maria “Tes” Reyes-Burrier.
And of these 23 schools that will reopen August 15, which of them will be host campuses for student populations of nearby schools that won’t be allowed to open that day? What will that modified school week look like? What time will classes start and the school day end in each of these schools? When will Christmas and Easter breaks be? When will the school year end? What about make-up days built in to cushion the 180-instructional day mandate from being breached by unforeseen circumstances?
These are questions the media has asked Ms. Reyes-Burrier. Two days ago Kandit sent the PIO a request for answers on these details, and no answers have been provided.
But these aren’t all the questions some parents have. The vast majority of public school families are classified as living below the national poverty line. That means for many, decisions like when to purchase school uniforms and supplies hinge on when schools will open, with parents and guardians trying to stretch the monthly family budget. Then there are the students who have struggled with hunger throughout the summer and for whom a faster reopening schedule guarantees they will at least have breakfast and lunch on weekdays. Is GDOE at this point even capable of considering this tangent in the crisis, much less capable of coordinating an interim solution? Has GDOE engaged the teacher’s union to make sure they are on board with changes to the calendar? What about the continuum of care needed for public school students with disabilities? When will the bus schedule be published?
These all are questions that have not been answered by GDOE and its board.
Meanwhile, public health director Therese Arriola on Wednesday said her agency’s health inspectors are committed to inspecting the remaining schools by August 15. The problem, according to the governor’s office, is that at least 10 of the schools are in need of major repairs that may take much longer to fix to come into safety and sanitation compliance.
What is the solution for those 10 schools? Amid the blame casting, the attempted power grab, the legislative confusion on policy, and GDOE’s silence through a crisis it suddenly has hurled at the public, that and many other questions remain unanswered.
