PSS needs to make up its mind on Koblerville gym

The clock is ticking for the Public School System to decide whether it wants responsibility for its Koblerville gymnasium, currently under construction.

A letter last month from the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. set a Nov. 26 deadline for PSS to decide to accept responsibility as sole sub-recipient of the gym but a request for a 30-day extension has been granted, according to Education Commissioner Dr. Rita Sablan.

The Board of Education and PSS are currently debating whether they still need the gym. Funding for the gym and prospects for a new junior high school in the area look slim, or may not be needed at all

The completion date for the gym is Dec. 15, but PSS does not know “if it’s going to be finished because of the delays,” according to Sablan. She said pouring of its cement foundation was twice delayed due to rain.

She added that the gym is still very “skeletal,” based on what she has seen.

Sablan recently met with the principals of Saipan Southern High School, Koblerville Elementary School, San Antonio Middle School, Hopwood Junior High, and Dandan Middle School to review their use of the gym and the cost to operate it.

The annual budget to operate the gymnasium is $19, 540, according to Sablan, but this is only for maintaining the gym. Lawn care is estimated at $3,600 a year, with cleaning services and security services at $12,000 each per year. A CUC bill has not been estimated yet.

“This is already a rough estimate of $47,000,” she said.

PSS expects to transport over 30 students each trip to the gym, Sablan said. Schools are not expected to use the gym regularly during the day, but more likely use them for ceremonies and interscholastic and afterschool activities.

“I asked the principals if they’d be willing to sacrifice already the funds they have” but “they are not willing to share the little funds they have,” she told the board’s committee on fiscal, administration and budget.

No commitment has been made by the Legislature or Inos administration on the future construction of a school in the area. As far as PSS numbers are concerned though, Sablan said, the need for a junior high or high school in the south is “probably not an immediate priority.”

“We need to take a look at our central and northern side…rather than the southern side,” she said.

It was reported earlier that Marianas High School, a “central” school, has over 1,500 students—an all-time high.

“There are so many costs that will be associated with it, and we need to able to be ready to assume those responsibilities that I know we are probably not capable of at this point and time,” Sablan said.

Should we PSS be the sole sub-recipient of the gym? “Probably not,” Sablan told the committee.

Marylou Ada, committee chair, pushed for partnering with Coral Ocean Point for maintenance of the gym. COP could write it off as a business expense, she said.

Ada cited Laulau Bay Golf Resort’s maintenance of schools’ baseball fields in their area.

“This is a skeleton. We don’t even have lockers, flooring, or bleachers… We all need that in place before we have a fully functional gym,” she said, adding that PSS needs to reach out to community for help because lack of funding.

The Koblerville gym is an open-air gym. The finished product would not have parking, or restroom or shower rooms, according to the Sablan. It would have very little amenities for students, Sablan said.

Board chair Herman Guerrero said they “need to seriously look at” the matter. He said another question is the property for the proposed new school, because even if they gained the lease-interest for the property, the question would remain of “what happens” at the end of the lease.

“Are we supposed to move the kids out at the end [of the lease] because the government refuses to do something about it? Those are factors that we need to seriously look at…whether to keep it or give to other government agencies that oversee sports activities,” he said

The leasehold of the three adjacent lots for the proposed school was purchased by NMHC from TMP Inc. in July 2011. The approximately 60,000-square-meter properties cost $1.17 million, using funds from the Community Development Block Grant.

The remaining years on the leasehold are about 28 to 32 years, as reported earlier. Costs to build the school were estimated to be anywhere between $18 million to $20 million.

PSS would like to have fee simple ownership of the three proposed lots. But Guerrero earlier noted that PSS or the board “does not have the authority to negotiate” on the matter as it is up the to central government.

The current lots belong to three separate owners, according to Guerrero.

The gym is being constructed by Tropex Garden, with some funds redirected from a proposed but cancelled Saipan Southern High School swimming pool.