Guam education system mulls school consolidations amid sinking enrollment

By Jayvee Vallejera

Guam's education officials are pushing for consolidation of some schools to cut costs amid a continuing decline in public-school enrolment.

Maintaining the Guam Department of Education's current infrastructure and personnel costs vis-a-vis low enrollment numbers is not fiscally sensible, according to Judith Guthertz, the board's chair.

However, shutting down school facilities is out of the question, she said.

“The idea of closure of schools is not an option for us at this time and I don't think it needs to be an option later if we're smart about it and we can develop partnerships and a joint usage of some of the space to accommodate community needs," Guthertz said, testifying before Sen. Vincent A.V. Borja's education committee this week

"That could help the school maintain the facility even with lower enrollment,” she added.

Guthertz noted that when Education Superintendent Judith T. Won Pat presented her findings and enrolment data, she came up with the same solution “in terms of how we handle this when we have under-enrollment.”

“If you look at the statistics on Guam, the birth rate is declining. Families are having fewer children. That's contributing to the smaller enrollments in our school,” Guthertz said.

“There's no way to ignore the fact that this trend of lower enrollment is going to occur and has occurred not just in the south but in other parts of the island," she added.

People have also left the island, and that trend started during the pandemic, she said.

Between June 10 and 17 alone, Guam’s enrollment dropped from 21,817 to 21,600, hence a decrease of 217, according to Jackie Quitugua, deputy superintendent.

The education department aims to make public schools ready by July 10, with classes set to start on Aug. 5.

While enrolment is declining, the department is also facing a personnel deficit.

With less than six weeks to go before school year begins, the department is scrambling to fill 240 vacant positions, including teaching positions that, if left unfilled, would leave thousands of students without teachers.

Quitugua told the committee that the Guam district identified a total of 203 faculty vacancies—108 in middle and high schools, 95 in elementary schools and 37 in special education specialists.

The department is currently recruiting and preparing for a job fair in a bid to fill the personnel gap.

Dr. Riza Liwag, deputy director of Special Education, said the program still needs Individualized Education Program coordinators, occupational therapists, physical therapists, audiologists, bus drivers, social workers, speech therapists and language pathologists.

While SPED currently has 223 adult support aides, Liwag said there are 156 additional requests that the program is unable to fund.

She said the department continues to face challenges in recruiting qualified service providers and relies on contracted providers to supplement its SPED workforce.

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Regarding the potential closure or consolidation of schools, Won Pat said it is unlikely to occur during this school year, as the department requires additional time to examine the option.

Won Pat said the Committee on Maximizing District Resources evaluated concrete and temporary school facilities, studied their capacities and whether they can continue to be used or consolidated with other schools.

She said the committee looked into the costs associated with faculty, utilities, enrollment, grounds maintenance, custodial work and vendor contracts, among others.

“When that task force started this whole conversation, they actually went out and met with the mayors, they met with some parents, they went out and staged several town hall meetings,” Won Pat said.

She said the task force presented a four-phase recommendation: Phase 1, pertains to the recent closure of two schools; Phases 2 to 4, refer to the possible closure of schools in the southern, central and northern parts of Guam.

Won Pat said the department will form a group that will develop a policy to determine the conditions and prerequisites for consolidation or closure.

“We want to set that policy up to present to the board,” she added.

Guthertz said it was very clear to the board that “we weren't going to entertain any action to close any school at this time and even looking to the future. It would not happen without complete justification.”