NMC, PSS get ready for temp classrooms

The first shipment of structures that will later be erected as temporary classrooms arrived in the CNMI last Christmas eve and both the Northern Marianas College and the Public School System are now getting ready to have places for them.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services announced via its social media page that the first of two shipments for temporary classroom structures arrived last Dec. 24, 2018. In total, the structures would be enough for 66 temporary classrooms split between PSS and NMC.

The announcement, however, did not specify how many tents arrived in the first shipments.

According to CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management public information officer Nadine Deleon Guerrero, counting the number of tents right now would be challenging since the temporary structures each include other extensions such as a washroom and a restroom.

With the tents already on island, both NMC and PSS have already started preparing their respective campuses for the temporary structures.

For PSS, the Koblerville Elementary School campus is currently being prepared for the tents, Muña told Saipan Tribune.

“Right now the ground work is being done. They are preparing the land and constructing the forms of the footing,” Muña said, adding that a specific target date for the completion of the preparatory ground work would be discussed at their weekly critical infrastructure task force meeting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency this afternoon.

“We meet on a weekly basis with the FEMA task force and get updates from them,” he noted, adding that those meetings are usually held Friday afternoon.

Preparations at NMC have also been ongoing, with the soccer field at the As Terlaje campus being graded and leveled.

NMC interim president Frankie Eliptico said in a previous interview that the college is targeting to move back to their As Terlaje campus on Feb. 11, 2019, which would also mark the resumption of morning classes. NMC is currently offering only afternoon and evening classes at the Saipan Southern High School campus.

Eliptico also previously noted that the college would be erecting 24 temporary classrooms. Each structure is able to accommodate 30 students and is complete with air-conditioning and insulation.

Alongside the 24 temporary classroom structures are some of the classrooms that have already been repaired.

The college is scheduled to be fully operational by late January 2019.