Chief Brodie, others on table for central middle school conversion
Guam Department of Education officials, during an engagement session Friday with parents from several schools, pleaded the case for why the department must rightsize facilities and maximize resources to provide equitable service to all public school students.
Parents and teachers filled the cafeteria at Liguan Elementary School for the presentation, which GDOE Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson prefaced with the assurance to stakeholders that no decisions have been made.
"What we're doing is looking at the reality of the changes in our student population over the last number of years. Pre-COVID, we were up with over 30,000 students. Now we're down about 24,000 students, and we still have the buildings and the capacity for 30,000 students. And we have a new reality to us with the budget that was approved by the Legislature, which came up $47 million short from what the (Guam Education Board) and I requested. So, this is a real math problem. How do we make this work? We did go back for an additional appropriation, got an additional $10 million to maintain facilities, and that's really going to help, but we're still $37 million short. One of the things we needed to do anyway was to take a look at how we could best use our facilities and our resources," Swanson said.
Maximization has been the subject of conversation among education officials for months. The engagement session with parents from Tamuning, Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Brodie, J.M Guerrero, Maria Ulloa, Liguan and Adacao elementary schools are part of the department's information-gathering process.
"This process that we're in right now is to gain your insight and get your concerns and get that into the record so that we can respond to it in a positive way," Swanson said. "We've had a team of folks working on this for a number of months, but we're not to a decision point yet. In my schedule, what I have to do, I've been charged by the board to present options to them by December so that they can begin to work on a solution and make decisions about what to do going forward in January and February. So that's where we are right now. No decisions have been made, but we look at a number of options."
GDOE shared a slideshow presentation with those in attendance about the process of maximization efforts and the department's districtwide short-term and long-term plans.
Looking at the present, GDOE's short-term goal involves determining "the need, process, criteria and timeline for the decommissioning of schools in order to rightsize the district."
Long term, GDOE focuses on implementation of "the process, criteria and timeline over the next one to three school years to rightsize the district as needed."
Factors such as school populations, location, attendance data and bus routes, along with population projections, facility needs and costs to repair, will be considered in determining which schools would close their doors or be rightsized.
While no decisions have been made, Post files show that Chief Brodie Elementary School is on the table for closure and conversion into a central middle school. In fact, there's a GEB resolution that supports the effort.
Those stakeholders in attendance were not thrilled.
GDOE Deputy Superintendent Joseph Sanchez told The Guam Daily Post on Sunday that teachers, staff, parents and even a few students "wanted to make sure that we explore as many options as we can before we decide to decommission any school. They want this to be the last resort."
During the engagement session, Sanchez said there are other conversations being brought to the table to include leaving Chief Brodie as an elementary school and instead converting Tamuning Elementary into a middle school, as issues are starting to be seen.
"The cost analysis to do that with Chief Brodie is turning out to be somewhat almost prohibitive, right? So, it's like, where would you find the funding? There's a lot of retrofitting that needs to happen with Chief Brodie. So where does that conversation come in? Another conversation that has come up is, well, if Chief Brodie doesn't get converted, is it possible to convert Tamuning Elementary?" Sanchez said at the session.
He said GDOE has received reports that Tamuning may be a better option.
"Size, the location, their proximity to other fields and what not, might be preferable. And the Tamuning community has already expressed the desire to have the middle school in Tamuning," he said.
Juan M. Guerrero Elementary School also has been suggested as an option for similar reasons.
"Plus the fact that it's a larger facility, so, the field is much larger. So again, that's under discussion," Sanchez said.
As of Friday, schools on the table for maximization are Maria Ulloa, Harry S. Truman, Inarajan, Merizo Martyrs, Talofofo, J.M Guerrero, Tamuning, Marcial Sablan, Liguan, Chief Brodie and Adacaco elementary schools.
The school data shared with parents indicated that some schools are not using their capacity fully, such as Marcial Sablan, which is using only about 39% of its 737-student capacity with 291 students.
The schools considered for conversion include Chief Brodie, which can accommodate 734 students, but is at 30% capacity with 229 students. J.M Guerrero has a student capacity of 561 and currently has 358 students. Tamuning Elementary has a capacity of 768, with 420 students enrolled.
The numbers indicate that if Chief Brodie is kept as an elementary school and Tamuning is converted, Tamuning's student population could be absorbed by Chief Brodie. If J.M. Guerrero is converted to a middle school, its 358 students could be absorbed by Chief Brodie or Tamuning elementary schools.
But again, Sanchez stressed that no decisions have been made.
Schools that are decommissioned or rightsized will see personnel shifts throughout the department, enrollment changes, reassignment of attendance areas, rightsizing of campuses, changes in bus routes and reallocation of assets, according to Sanchez, who also noted maximization will bring cost savings on utilities, maintenance and personnel.
Sanchez shared feedback from parents, teachers and students.
"They are concerned about timelines and want to make sure that they are given (a) heads-up ahead of time. The timeline for final decisions we've recommended to (the) superintendent is at least by February 2025 for anything to be implemented for (school year 2025–2026)," Sanchez told the Post.
The engagement session held Friday was the second in a series of sessions aimed at gathering stakeholder input. Sanchez said, "Both sessions brought up concerns about why we are closing down GDOE schools while opening charter schools. They asked if charter schools have an impact on our population and budget. Our response was yes, charter schools do have an impact on GDOE population, but they don't account for the entire decrease since their populations are capped," Sanchez said.
GDOE acknowledged that the idea of closing schools is a sensitive subject for stakeholders, but Sanchez noted that stakeholders have been understanding of the situation.
"Overall, we naturally understand that no one will ever want to decommission or close down their school, but many expressed their understanding of why we may have to do so, especially when you see the population decrease alongside the limited budget and resources," Sanchez said.
"The superintendent wanted to make sure that we emphasized at all sessions that no final decisions or recommendations have been made and that we wanted to engage stakeholders in these conversations," he said.
Stakeholders can share their comments, ideas or suggestions on the rightsizing of GDOE facility and maximization of resources by emailing .
A third engagement session for stakeholders of Talofofo, Merizo Martyrs and Inarajan elementary schools is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at Inarajan Middle School.
