MHS set for school opening

Barring any hitches, Marianas High School is all set to welcome an expected large number of students for school year 2018-2019 that opens on Aug. 15, Wednesday. All public schools will open on the same day.

MHS principal Cherlyn Cabrera told Saipan Tribune that she and her entire personnel and staff are ready as contingency plans are in place, especially if a storm cancels the school opening.

“We always have emergency plans in place and protocols for emergencies. …Yes, we have procedures in place to accommodate for lost instructional time due to storms or other unforeseen circumstances,” said Cabrera.

She added they only replaced two of their teaching staff, unlike in previous years where they experienced some shortages. “Fortunately for us, we only had to replace two of our teachers this year and many of our teachers have similar teaching assignments, so they are ready as we don’t have any new surprises this year as we had in the past.”

“In the past, we had shortages of teachers so we would have to get creative to meet student needs. But this year, we are set with our staff, on top of our renovations and repairs, and excited to welcome our students to [school year] 2018-2019,” said Cabrera.

She said new classes would also be offered to further prepare their students who want to pursue higher education while also having vocational classes, thanks the partnership between the CNMI State Public System and the Northern Marianas Trades Institute.

Advanced placement chemistry, college and career preparation, physical education III—weight and sports athletic training—and Japanese II are the new MHS subjects while auto mechanic, hospitality, construction, and culinary arts are the partnership classes to be offered with NMTI.

She also dismissed any rumors that they are going to limit the number of students that they would accept this school year. MHS had more than 1,000 students in the previous school year.

“MHS continues to have a large student population due to the movement of families within our school zones. As a public school, we welcome all those who are in our school zone and we do not limit the number of students registering. However, we did set a deadline for registration [last Thursday],” Cabrera said.

“This [registration] ensures students can get the best selection of classes and ample time to be added into our school database. Students who are out-of-zone or who live outside our school zone must request a ‘waiver’ to [PSS] acting interim commissioner Jackie A. Quitugua, if they are requesting their child to attend MHS.”

“Letters to request for waivers for out-of-zone students may be dropped off at MHS. We forward all requests to the Commissioner’s Office and [they] work to give parents a timely response,” added Cabrera.