PSS accepts governor’s La Fiesta offer

The Board of Education has conditionally accepted the offer of Gov. Juan N. Babauta to use a portion of the La Fiesta Mall as a new junior and senior high school, subject to the Office of the Governor addressing some of the board’s concerns.

This came about after Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos and her staff finished the feasibility study on the use of the mall as a school for the northern part of the island.

Inos presented the findings during a meeting by the board’s Capital Improvement and PSS Property Committee yesterday morning at the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning Center at the Marianas High School.

It was agreed during the meeting that the BOE will write to the governor that they are accepting his offer, just as soon as the governor clarifies some concerns that they have about the arrangement. These includes the 19-year lease, the responsibilities the government will shoulder in carrying out this project, and the responsibilities that the Public School System will also assume to fulfill this project.

It was discussed during the board’s last meeting that they would need at least three months to study and look at the feasibility of establishing a new school on Saipan but Inos accomplished the study earlier and presented it to the committee yesterday.

The committee agreed to send to Babauta and the Legislature the results of the study, as well as the letter enumerating their concerns.

Inos said the governor’s proposal is an opportunity for the school system but pointed out that, based on the PSS’ seven-year plan, they are supposed to construct a new school within the Marpi area. The mall would then be a temporary school until PSS has built the new school in Marpi. Other concerns include what will happen after the 19-year lease expires.

The government had presented the proposal to the board last month about the transformation of one portion of the mall into a new junior and senior high school. Earlier reports said the governor’s office would shoulder the expenses for the renovation and furnishing of the new school and the new school is scheduled to be operational in January 2006.

The new school is supposed to alleviate the overcrowding problem at the Kagman High School and Chacha Junior High School.

In an interview with the governor last week, Babauta said that his office is willing to wait for the board to decide on this matter. “I would support whatever their decision would be,” he said.

The governor said he is concerned with the current overcrowding of the schools and his office would want the CNMI youth to have a more convenient and conducive learning environment, especially for children in the Marpi area.