By Jayvee Vallejera
The simmering tensions that began brewing after two elementary schools in Guam were made to share space in what was supposed to be a temporary arrangement are expected to come to a head today and could compromise the future of both schools.
Kenneth Swanson, superintendent of the Guam Department of Education, has called for a meeting on Oct. 9 with teachers of both Chief Brodie Elementary School and Juan M. Guerrero Elementary School.
The meeting’s agenda was not disclosed but Melinda Burke, an ESL teacher at Chief Brodie Elementary School, is not optimistic. She believes the meetings appear to indicate Swanson’s new plan: Instead of returning the Chief Brodie students and teachers to their old campus as he had promised, it now looks like the school will, instead, be merged with the JM Guerrero School.
“If the superintendent was planning to reopen Chief Brodie School, I doubt he would want or need to meet with all of us. I suspect from his recent abrupt pronouncement that he wants the two schools to merge,” said Burke in an email she sent Monday.
The email appealed to parents and the Guam public to help Chief Brodie School students and teachers return to their home campus in Tamuning, Burke said Swanson had promised several times that all schools would be returned to their home campuses by Sept. 30.
Guam’s Department of Public Health and Social Services had closed down several schools after failing safety inspections, including Chief Brodie Elementary School.
Burke said almost half of the schools had failed,
That resulted in the Chief Brodie School in Tamuning being made to share a campus with the Juan M. Guerrero Elementary School in Dededo.
When it came time for Chief Brodie School to be inspected again, Burke said the school’s staff, parents and teachers worked evenings and weekends on their own time and expense to get the campus ready for inspection. Their effort paid off, with the school getting a “C” rating during its Public Health inspection on Oct. 4.
Yet their jubilation was short-lived after being informed that they will continue to share space with JM Guerrero School.
“Chief Brodie School staff and teachers were stunned when our principal, Darlene Castro, passed on this message: ‘We passed. However, the direction from the superintendent is still status quo to sharing campus with JMG,’” Burke said.
She said they were devastated by the news that several teachers had already packed up all their teaching supplies and had said goodbye to JM Guerrero school teachers.
“We have been very unhappy at the JMG campus, where we have been tolerated, not welcome and conditions are subpar,” she said.
Burke said they were originally told that JM Guerrero School was large enough to accommodate both schools, but they have since learned that that is untrue.
“There is not enough room. Two first-grade teachers share the same room because there's not enough room. Most support teachers/nurses are two to a room. My class is in the storeroom of the library. Chief Brodie School office staff have no room for desks,” she said.
Of particular irony for Burke is that they are being forced to stay at JM Guerrero School, which has a “D” rating, when they could already move back to their old campus, which now has a “C” rating.
“JMG still has its D rating. So, as one teacher pointed out, the superintendent wants us to stay at a school with a ‘D’ rating, instead of Chief Brodie, our home campus, which has a ‘C’ rating,” she added.
Burke insists that keeping Chief Brodie teachers and students at JM Guerrero is not a good idea, and that saving money is not a good reason to continue to force Chief Brodie School students, staff and teachers :into this unhealthy, subpar educational environment.”
She is also concerned that many of Chief Brodie School parents could be easily railroaded into agreeing with Swanson’s plan to keep the students at JM Guerrero. “The superintendent could easily manipulate this marginalized population,” she said.
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