Previous Story
Fitial calls GTC principal, assures funding support
|
Posted on Feb 03 2009
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial on Thursday called Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School principal Charlotte Camacho to assure the administrator of continuous funding support for its renovation project.
Fitial, who has been criticized for reportedly canceling the GTC project from a block grant, told Camacho not to worry because capital improvement project funds will take care of the project. The school was supposed to get an $800,000 block grant from the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.
Elated by the governor’s action, Camacho said the school is excited to make the presentation to the governor.
She described the conversation with Fitial as “very brief and did not go into the details.”
“We will be meeting with the governor and we will clarify where and how much of the money we will be getting for our renovation,” the principal told Saipan Tribune during the science fair at the campus.
Based on the approved CDBG grant, construction of the school’s most dilapidated buildings—B, F, G—will commence in June in time for the opening of the new school year in August.
“That’s our goal,” Camacho said, adding that the school’s PTA was quite disappointed upon learning of the project’s cancellation from the block grant list.
Camacho said the PTA initiated the submission of the renovation plan to the NMHC.
“The governor assured me that he will support both projects—the soccer complex and the GTC renovation. He just mentioned that CIP money is fit for our school renovation,” she said.
It was earlier disclosed that GTC may displace over a hundred students if Bureau of Environmental Health recommends the closure of the three 30-year-old buildings.
Asked on the particular program to be reprogrammed from CIP, Camacho said this will be known once they met with the governor.
GTC was among the schools that got the highest student achievements in school year 2007-2008.
It has 238 students and employs a number of highly qualified teachers.
The school’s students to teacher ratio is ideal at 18:1.
