Previous Story
$4.8M needed for full-time kinder
Around $4.8 million—to provide for 18 to 24 new classrooms and teachers—is needed to expand the Public School System’s full-day kindergarten program across the islands, according to Education Commissioner Dr. Rita Sablan.
A majority of schools with kindergarten programs do not offer full-time classes.
Right now, San Vicente, Kagman, and Sinapalo elementary schools offer full-time sessions, according to Sablan, with Gregorio T. Camacho, Oleai, Tinian, William S. Reyes, Koblerville, and Garapan elementary schools offering double-sessions in a day.
According to Sablan, the group of schools with double-sessions needs about 18 new classrooms to accommodate full-time kindergarten.
Students for these schools attend two-hour classes in the morning, with a second session of different students in the afternoon, according to Sablan.
But while SVES and SES offer full-time, this might need reassessment, according to the commissioner.
“San Vicente has an enrollment of at least 22 kids to a classroom, and it should be 20. We want to bring it down. We need to bring it down to 20,” she said.
The Board of Education promulgates a 20-to-1 student teacher ratio in the primary and elementary, and 25-to-1 ratio in the middle school and high schools.
Sablan said 10 or 15 children per classroom is “about right.”
“They are a group of kids just developing their cognitive and emotional skills. You need to have that 1 on 1, or 5 to 1,” she said, noting that even at home three kids may be a handful for one parent.
The estimated cost to build a new classroom is $200,000, according to PSS federal programs officer Tim Thornburg.
Originally set at 24 classrooms and teachers, the opening of new middle schools on island changed this total, according to the Sablan.
Less teachers, growing schools
The Marianas High School at one point had 50 classroom teachers for 900 to 1,000 students, according to Sablan.
Now with about 1,500 students, the largest on island, they are down to 38 teachers, she said.
“We need about a hundred more classroom teachers to bring down the student teacher ratio [in public schools],” Sablan said.
For MHS, the school would need about 30 more teachers, according to her.
