‘In-person classes for 70% eligible vaccinated schools’

High schools of the CNMI Public School System with 70% of its eligible students already vaccinated against COVID-19 will resume in-person classes on Jan. 3, 2022.

In a memorandum dated Dec. 21, Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred B. Ada said the CNMI’s high vaccination rate—which stood at 92.7% yesterday—“makes it safe for PSS to transition back to full in-person learning for secondary schools at a 70% vaccination rate.”

Ada wrote that PSS’ Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. partners have concurred with these findings.

PSS posted Ada’s memorandum on its social media pages yesterday.

As of writing the memorandum, Ada listed six PSS schools that have reached or surpassed the 70% vaccination threshold and thus will resume full in-person classes come Jan. 3:

-Marianas High School

-Saipan Southern High School

-Kagman High School

-Tinian Jr./ Sr. High School on Tinian

-Dr. Rita H. Inos Jr./ Sr. High School on Rota

-Da’Ok Academy

Ada also listed six schools below or nearing 70%. If these schools reach 70% before Jan. 3, they will open for full in-person classes as well. Otherwise, the schools will continue on with cohorting schedules that were in place before the transition to online instruction on Oct. 29. The schools are:

-Hopwood Middle School at 69%

-Tanapag Middle School at 66%

-Francisco M. Sablan Middle School at 62%

-Dandan Middle School at 59%

-Chacha Oceanview Middle School at 56%

PSS’s elementary schools on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota “will continue with full in-person learning as scheduled prior to Oct. 29,” Ada wrote, and PSS’ Early Head Start/ Head Start Programs on Tinian and Rota will “continue to operate full face-to-face as usual.”

On Saipan, the Early Head Start/ Head Start program will offer “home-based and center-based services for families until further notice,” Ada added.

He wrote that “all PSS elementary, middle, and high schools are ready to welcome back students with a high standard of safety and care” and listed several safety and protection measures that all schools have been doing and will continue to do.

These measures include promoting COVID-19 vaccines for those eligible; ensuring that the “3 W’s” are observed and enforced; scheduling regular deep cleaning and sanitizing of all campuses and facilities; conducting daily routine temperature checks; and ventilating classrooms and offices before, during, and after school hours.

Deferring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ada wrote that the CDC continues to emphasize that “vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic.” Ada added that PSS will continue to work closely with its CHCC partners on upcoming plans for school-based screening/testing.

The resumption of full in-person classes on Jan. 3, 2022, came after several CNMI Board of Education meetings to reschedule the reopening date.

The board met on Nov. 12 to discuss the original resumption date, Nov. 15. The board on Nov. 12 voted unanimously to move the reopening date to Nov. 29.

PSS then announced on Nov. 28 that it opted to go with a staggered return to in-person classes based on schools’ COVID-19 screening/testing schedule.

The board most recently met on Dec. 7 and unanimously voted to set the full in-person reopening to Jan. 3, 2022.