Rezoning of public middle school students effective this year

Hopwood Junior High School will finally be rid of its age-old problem of overcrowding at its campus. The Public School System has authorized the rezoning of some villages to reduce the influx of students at the Commonwealth’s largest middle school.

Hopwood principal Jonas Barcinas, who is also the principals’ representative for secondary schools, said yesterday that it is the objective of the rezoning to remedy overcrowding at Hopwood.

Last school year, Hopwood had over 1,300 middle school students. As of yesterday, its enrollment was at 1,186, Barcinas said.

He said an estimated 200 more students may be added to the student population at Chacha Oceanview Junior High due to the rezoning. Chacha was home to 300 to 400 students for many years.

Barcinas said that many students who graduated from Tanapag, Gregorio T. Camacho, and San Vicente elementary schools will be accommodated at Chacha Oceanview. Students from these villages used to go to Hopwood.

Saipan Tribune learned that Hopwood’s 1,186 enrollees are from the Dandan, Oleai, Koblerville, Garapan, San Antonio, and William S. Reyes elementary schools, as well as some areas in San Vicente.

Barcinas said that rezoning will solve the overcrowding problem at Hopwood that often resulted in high students-to-teacher ratio and lack of classroom space. He said that parents have been notified of this move.

Last school year, PSS rezoned some areas in San Antonio and Koblerville to reduce the number of students at Marianas High School and place more students at Saipan Southern High School. MHS ended the school year with 1,295 students.

Hopwood, according to Barcinas, is ready to open next month with 43 highly qualified teachers. It needs six more teachers for science, social studies, and language arts.

“I am very optimistic that we can fill those positions before the opening of classes,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Despite the anticipated influx of more students, Chacha principal Vince Dela Cruz expects almost the same or just a slight increase in student population. He said that Chacha will no longer accommodate sixth graders from Kagman Elementary School beginning this new school year as they will stay with KagES. The additional enrollees from some areas will offset the sixth graders the school will take out next month.

According to Dela Cruz, Chacha has 350 students as of yesterday and is ready to open classes with 13 teachers and 25 classrooms. He said he needs only two more teachers for language arts and social studies before classes open.