PSS shutters all schools

The Public School System will implement online classes—also called “distance education”—as part of precautionary measures to limit the potential spread of COVID-19 and promote social distancing in the CNMI.

According Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada, classroom instruction will be moved online for the remainder of the school year as part of the CNMI Public School System’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into campuses.

“For the remainder of the current school year 2019-2020, classroom instructions will be taught through the Distance Education Program. We are expanding our PSS Distance Education Program to allow for all of our 10,000 students to continually avail of our public education services, which was unfortunately disrupted with the growing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic on our small island community,” he said.

All schools will remain closed until the COVID-19 threat dies down.

“All of the school district’s 20 elementary, middle and high school campuses, and all 10 Head Start and Early Head Start centers on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota will remain closed until it is safe for all students to return,” Ada said.

According to him, he and his leadership and management teams will be finalizing the Distance Education Program plan from March 23 to 25.

“This will ensure the seamless integration of actual classroom instruction, by expanding the existing online programs to cover all content areas (curriculum and instructions). The health and wellbeing of all of our public education stakeholders—our students, teachers, staff and personnel—will always remain paramount in our aggressive work to combat the spread of this fatal COVID-19 virus,” Ada said.

A Marianas High School junior who requested anonymity believes it’s only right to transfer to online classes since the virus is spreading fast and it’s just a matter of time before it reaches the CNMI.

A Saipan Southern High School senior said it’s better to continue having actual classes until there really is a confirmed CIVID-19 case in the CNMI because many public school students don’t have and cannot afford the technology to do online classes.

She added that some students work better with a teacher watching over them, like herself, since it keeps her from procrastinating and it helps her get her work done.

The CNMI PSS Distance Education Program was established nearly 10 years ago. PSS is the first in the Pacific region to develop a curriculum-based online classroom learning.