PSS eyes merger of junior high and high schools on Rota

Due to budget constraints, the Public School System is looking at merging the Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Junior High School and the Rota High School this upcoming school year.

The proposal was endorsed by Education Commissioner Dr. Rita Sablan and will be discussed by the Board of Education at its scheduled meeting tomorrow.

Herman T. Guerrero, the board’s fiscal and personnel affairs committee chairman, confirmed the merger recommendation yesterday but couldn’t say outright how much savings it would bring the system pending the presentation of data.

Dr. Rita Inos Hocog is home to sixth to eighth grade students on Rota.

Guerrero said that enrollment data is one factor they will look at.

According to Annette Calvo, acting principal of Dr. Rita Inos Hocog Junior High School, enrollment as of yesterday was at 138, of which more than 40 are sixth graders. Last year, the school had 148 students.

Calvo expressed support for the planned merger as it would allow both schools to share and maximize their limited resources.

The Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Junior High School has six core content classroom teachers and four instructors. Once merged with Rota High School, student-to-teacher ratio will increase from the previous 15:1 to the board-mandated ratio of 23:1 for middle schools.

The junior high has been seeing a slight decrease in its enrollment each school year. Calvo said the merger will increase the student-to-teacher ratio for Rota schools.

Rota High School principal Sharlene Manglona declined to state the school’s enrollment figure yesterday, saying she needs to present the data first to her “boss” before disseminating it to the media.

Manglona also declined to comment on the planned merger, saying she doesn’t appreciate the way Saipan Tribune presents news about Rota High School.

Saipan Tribune learned that PSS is also considering moving back the sixth graders to Sinapalo Elementary School this school year. If that happens, the junior high school will be left with only 98 seventh and eighth graders.

Also this new school year, PSS decided to move back sixth graders from Chacha Oceanview Junior High School to Kagman Elementary School so the middle school could accommodate some students from Hopwood Junior High School.

Because of the PSS re-zoning of Tanapag Elementary School, Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, and San Vicente Elementary School, over a hundred students will be accommodated at Chacha Oceanview this year, sparing Hopwood from perennial overcrowding.