MHS gym aircon down, school seeks help

Marianas High School, the largest public high school in the CNMI, is asking the CNMI community for help in repairing the school gymnasium’s air conditioners in time for this year’s graduation ceremonies and the upcoming Micronesian Games.

MHS principal Karen Borja said all the air-conditioning units at the gym have broken down. This means that, unless repaired soon, people attending the Micro Games this June and those attending this year’s graduation ceremony will be faced with sweltering heat inside the gym.

She pointed out that the gym’s windows could not circulate air from outside because the windows have been made typhoon-proof.

“Now it’s like sauna,” Borja said.

Borja said she had asked the new administration for the units’ repair in January, soon after the inauguration of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Tim Villagomez, but she has yet to get a response on her request. She had also asked the help of the transition committee in repairing the gym’s air conditioner, either through financial or manpower assistance.

The MHS gymnasium was used as the alternative venue during the Inaugural Ceremony for the governor and lieutenant governor on Jan. 9. Borja said the public school allowed the inauguration committee to use the gymnasium for free.

Borja said she recently turned to the Micronesian Games committee to ask for assistance but the committee had told her that they don’t have the money for it.

The gym has eight air conditioners. Two of these were earlier repaired using the money that the school had collected from those who rent the gym for special events last year. The two air conditioners were repaired at a cost of $28,000. These two units, however, have broken down as well.

MHS received a measly $40,000 for its operational expenses in school year 2005-2006. The fund given to the school is $20,000 short of last school year’s budget allocation.

This is the lowest amount the high school has gotten in four years, according to Borja. In 2003, MHS received $200,000 for its school operations. In 2004, the funding was reduced to $100,000, followed by $60,000 in 2005; now it is down to only $40,000.

She said the school is gratified with the business community for all the Educational Tax Credit donations the school got.

She said the money given them this year only defrayed the costs for grass cutting, for security, and toilet paper in the school. Minor repairs were also included in the budget but major repairs will just have to be put on hold.