No delay in start of classes

The first day of school for the Public School System will remain set for Sept. 8.

In a special meeting held yesterday, all five members of the PSS Board of Education voted to stick to the original schedule, saying that, without a definitive assurance there would be power within two weeks, they were hesitant to push the start date back.

Gov. Benigno Fitial had asked board chair Lucy Blanco-Maratita last week to consider pushing back the start of classes two weeks or until reliable power becomes available to Saipan. Aggreko generators are expected to be operational by Sept. 16 or 17, adding 15 to 18 megawatts of power to the island.

“That is a troubling statement right there,” said vice chair Herman T. Guerrero. “Two weeks over here can sometimes be two months. What, are we going to start at the beginning of [2009]?”

Blanco-Maratita asked board member Scott Norman, the principal of Calvary Christian Academy, if students are able to learn in an environment without power. Calvary has been in session for three weeks.

“We’re not allowing it to hinder expectations. It’s not comfortable, but they’re learning, and we’re making sure they’re learning,” Norman said. He said after three weeks of classes, he could give the board some helpful recommendations.

“Do not count on any kind of scheduling,” he said. “Ignore the schedule. And I’m not being facetious. CUC puts out a schedule and you call it what you want to call it.”

Commissioner of Education Rita Sablan said she believes administrators, teachers and students are equipped to handle the outages.

“The powerless situations, the schools have experienced this the last six months of school last year and prior,” she said. “There are some recommendations made on what they can do during a prolonged time of outage.”

Some schools are looking at moving classes outside and tying in physical activity with the lessons, she added.

Sablan said she met with all PSS principals last week and the consensus was to start classes as planned.

Board member Galvin S. Guerrero said he wanted to make sure all schools had backup water tanks and pumps, and would have working fire alarms if there was an outage. Guerrero was assured all schools have tanks and pumps, and the fire alarms were going to be looked into.

Governor Fitial respects the Board’s decision, Charles Reyes, Jr., spokesman for the Governor’s Office, said after the meeting.

“We were making a recommendation to consider [the idea] but they were not obligated [to follow it], given their constitutional authority,” he said.

The Governor wrote the letter to inform the Board that CUC would not be able to provide 24-hour power if they start on Sept. 8, Reyes added.

Antonio Muña, executive director of CUC, said his recommendation was to push back the start date.

“With the problems we’re having, we can’t guarantee power even when we get one engine up,” he said.

With the additional power needed for the schools, Muña said the possibility of an engine overloading is that much greater.