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Classes resume today
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Posted on Apr 06 2005
Classes in public schools are expected to resume today following yesterday’s suspensions brought about by the sudden eruption of the volcano on Anatahan and the subsequent ashfall that enveloped nearby islands, including Saipan.
Gov. Juan N. Babauta recommended the resumption of classes after the Commonwealth’s chief executive saw a report from the National Weather Service on Tiyan, Guam, which forecasts clear skies.
Associate commissioner for administrative services David M. Borja said classes would return to normal today pending any new information or advisory from the Emergency Management Office.
Borja said the Public School System officially suspended classes yesterday at around 10:30am. He said he along with other PSS staff and officials went personally to the schools to confirm the suspension of classes to principals.
He said at about 1pm all classrooms were almost vacated but admitted that some school buses were still doing their rounds, picking up the children.
Some private schools also suspended classes yesterday. However, Scott Norman, president of the Coalition of Private Schools on Saipan and principal of Calvary Christian Academy, said his school did not suspend classes.
He said the students were safer in the classrooms, which are well-lighted and air-conditioned.
“We just don’t want to add to the confusion out there already,” he said.
Norman said he could not allow students to wait outside school for their parents because that could be worse. Norman said the decision to shut down schools yesterday was an individual school matter and that it was up to each private school whether they were going to close or not.
Norman said not all private schools are members of the coalition but he said 95 percent of the private schools in the CNMI are members.
