2 new high schools for Saipan okayed

A new high school will be built on a 15-hectare lot in Kagman on which the new elementary school is currently under construction as part of a new plan to help ease overcrowding at the Marianas High School.

Another high school will also be erected at a Public School System property in Koblerville under the proposal expected to be approved by the Board of Education this week, according to officials.

BOE members met last Friday with Division of Public Lands officials as well as with Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, chair of the House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare, to seek solution to where to allot space for the proposed Kagman facility.

“We have resolved the land needs for PSS in Kagman area at the meeting with the understanding that PSS would approach the concept of two high schools instead of one high school,” said Mr. Hofschneider in an interview after the meeting.

Earlier, the board expressed interest on the proposal to split the planned second high school on Saipan into two smaller schools, with one to be built in Koblerville and the other in Kagman, in efforts to address concerns regarding transportation and traffic congestion.

But BOE member Tony Pellegrino, chair of the capital improvement projects committee within the board, noted during a recent public hearing that they still have to acquire and identify an area in Kagman to accommodate the infrastructure requirement of the new school.

This process will take a long time and the new high school is needed immediately by PSS to address shortage of classrooms at the MHS where student population is expected to swell to more than 2,000 by next year.

According to Mr. Hofschneider, PSS can begin construction in Koblerville while preparing the plan for the second undertaking in Kagman to fast-track the project and provide needed classrooms for the growing population.

Based on the agreement with DPL, BOE will approve the plan to build the Kagman facility at the back of the new elementary and junior high schools which are expected to open by the start of schoolyear 2000-01.

More than 15.4 hectares are designated for the three schools, although the new high school will be designed to accommodate between 600 to 700 students.

Other school facilities such as track and field, football field and gymnasium will be built at the adjacent property of DPL, consisting of a 3.7-hectare government land intended as a public park for the community.

Infrastructure improvement

Mr. Hofschneider pointed out the facilities will be used jointly between the schools and the residents of Kagman. Infrastructure requirements will also be in place by that time as the CNMI is infusing more than $10 million in CIP funds to improve power, sewer and water services in the area.

“In order to accomplish that, we don’t envision building a second high school or a third high school that will be equivalent to the size of MHS because it defeats the purpose,” he explained, adding PSS will just divide the CIP appropriations to finance the two school projects.

“The only problem we are equally aware of is that instead of one operational cost, there will be two because we are building two new high schools on top of the MHS operational costs,” said Mr. Hofschneider.

But having one large high school comparable to MHS will not be in the best interest of the people, either for the growing residential neighborhood in Kagman or in southern part of the island.

Mr. Hofschneider believed that if Koblerville is chosen as the site of the huge project, it will not address the concerns regarding traffic congestion and transportation delays.

“Logistically speaking, for only one high school to be built in the southern sector, it will pose a continued problem for PSS in terms of busing and operational problems,” he said.

School officials and lawmakers will deal with the anticipated increase in PSS budget in two years once both Kagman and Koblerville high schools open, according to the representative.