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‘La Fiesta campus not possible this August’
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Posted on Jun 23 2005
The plan to transform the La Fiesta Mall into a new high school enrolling at least 600 students from the Marpi, Tanapag, and San Roque areas will not materialize this coming school year.
Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos said Wednesday said she is reaffirming the Board of Education’s position that the Legislature must first initiate several actions before PSS moves the students to the new school in Marpi.
Inos said the Legislature must approve the annual lease payments worth $3.8 million, which is still owed by the government to the landowner. The Public School System is also asking for $2.8 million for the operational cost of the new school.
She said the move to La Fiesta this August will not be practical even if the Legislature provides the public debt approval as required by Article X of the CNMI Constitution. She said there are still facility problems, which were identified by school facilities consultant Betty Hanson last week.
Hanson was in charge of the two previous seven-year school CIP plans for PSS. She provided her findings about La Fiesta last week when she helped PSS with its new seven-year school facilities plans.
She later told PSS that parking space would be insufficient for the new school and that there are no recreational facilities in the building. Hanson also said there are serious issues regarding access for children with disabilities.
“A small service elevator tucked away behind closed doors at the end of a dark tunnel is not how we provide equal access for our special children,” said Inos, referring to Hanson’s findings.
Currently, the PSS has already made arrangements on how to accommodate all students at existing Saipan schools this August to alleviate the overcrowding problems in schools in Kagman.
She said La Fiesta could still serve as an alternative school for students in 2006 or 2007, with the provision of a proper reconstruction to house a school and the final payment of the lease of the mall.
Hanson said she advised Inos to carefully study the cost of converting La Fiesta into a school because the cost might just be the same if PSS decides to build a new school from the ground up.
