PSS hopes to evaluate As Matuis property for possible north side school

The Public School System recently eyed its northernmost property for a possible school but “nothing is immediate right now,” according to CNMI State Board of Education chair Herman Guerrero, who said PSS is still viewing its options.

Guerrero said he initially thought the area, about 44,485 square meters, had too many slopes, but in a recent visit with Education Commissioner Dr. Rita Sablan, he has reconsidered.

“I think it would make an excellent campus,” Guerrero said an interview yesterday. “It’s not going to require major earth-moving…but at the recommendation of the CIP coordinator we need to do a topography study to have a better understanding what it really is going look like,” he said.

Sablan, in her report to the board last week, said she hoped the property could be reviewed in the near future to see what PSS could do to expand its schools in the north side of Saipan.

“It’s a nice fit for about 300 to 400 students,” she told the board.

Besides topography, Guerrero said PSS has other factors to look at.

He cited the demographic shift of population and students to the “central” part of the island near Marianas High School, which reportedly has an all-time high enrollment this year of 1,500-plus students, as something to look at.

He said PSS does not have properties in the central area of the island, and so if a new high school were built, they would have to figure out if they’d need to “rezone” populations to move students north.

He also said future homesteads could call for the need of a school in the area.

“We need to have a conversation with Public Lands if they’re going to have any plans in the near future to expand any homesteads up in that area, because if you do, you will certainly have families building houses over there,” he said.

He said timelines and requirements to build these homesteads would also have to be factored in.

It is because of these factors that there is “nothing immediate right now.”

“We are checking what our options are,” he said.

“The Northern High School” if constructed could accommodate 296 students from Tanapag Middle School, according to the PSS CIP office.

The property is 44,485 square meters and is located at the corner of Matansa Drive and Suito Drive in As Matuis, directly past the La Fiesta Mall.

It is similar in scale to Dandan Middle School, which is 49,444 square meters; Oleai Elementary School and Oleai Headstart, which are 42, 120 square meters; and William S. Reyes Elementary School and CK Headstart, which are 43,040 square meters.

The site has reportedly not been cleared yet, according to a PSS CIP report earlier this year. The report described the site as “more than likely steep and mountainous” due to the elevation of a nearby road and the terrain in the As Matuis area.

It also said a “substantial amount of costly land cutting and backfilling” would be needed to achieve proper elevation for a school.

According to a PSS enrollment report, there are over 700 northern school students, from Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, Tanapag Middle School, Kagman High mSchool, and Tanapag Head Start.

A large amount of this number comes from GTC, at a reported 300 students. Yesterday, Guerrero said GTC’s safety issues being close to the water and the fact that its playground is on private property are other factors to be considered in building a new school.