Guam – In a taped announcement, CNMI Public School Commissioner Glenn Muna highlighted the importance of getting schools up and running again. Currently, the facilities of CNMI PSS took a beating from Supertyphoon Yutu. In a news release this morning, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Interior Doug Domenech announced $1,632,500 to assist the CNMI as they work on rebuilding.
As campuses have been destroyed by the Super-typhoon, $1 million in Capital Improvement Program funds will be used to build temporary classroom pods. The remainder $632,500 will come out of Technical Assistance funds and will be used to provide emergency shelter stations with disaster-related supplies to meet the needs of families still without homes.
While the million-dollars have been provided for the CNMI, it will take time before PSS facilities will be restored to their pre-typhoon state. In the meantime, Commissioner Muna has set a target date to get students back in classrooms. He states that with the support from their partners, Tinian Elementary and Tinian Jr. and Sr. High, as well as the Tinian Headstart Program, will resume on November 26th. He also officially announced that CNMI PSS has identified a target for all other schools and programs on Saipan and Tinian to resume on December 3rd. Schools in Rota will continue to run normally.
In order for Seniors to graduate in time to prepare for life after high-school, the Commissioner is working hard to re-open schools and anticipates to commence the school year by mid June. This will also ensure that all non-graduating students have a summer vacation, and also give them the opportunity to rest-and-reset for the upcoming school year. To meet this goal, while facilities will not be running at 100%, he has identified a contingency plan to meet the December 3rd target.
Schools and programs on Saipan and Tinian will run on conditional operations and schools will run half day. Some schools will run on a double session framework. Double session means half the student population will go to school in the morning, the other half will go to school in the afternoon. Some schools may need to relocate or share campuses with one school running in the morning, and the other school running in the afternoon.
See the announcement below:
Source: CNMI PSS
