SVS to construct new Kindergarten classrooms

The San Vicente Elementary School said it would not be able to open its Kindergarten classrooms for next school year unless they first address building safety concerns.

SVS principal Kinai Salas said that if the two kindergarten classrooms are not fixed in time for next school year, “I will not be able to open the Kindergarten for next school year, and I don’t want to do that.”

The two Kindergarten classrooms, which are located at the lower end of the SVS campus, are at least 16 years old. Salas said the classrooms are in such terrible shape that they pose a safety hazard to students.

An SVS employee, who gave the Saipan Tribune a tour of the classrooms, disclosed that one of classrooms is infested with termites and cockroaches.

“The teacher for this classroom distributes disposable cups to her students and tells them not to reuse them the next day because when they come back for classes, they see a lot of cockroaches just crawling everywhere,” the employee said.

She added that it gets “really bad” during typhoons as the roofs and walls leak, leaving the smell of mold and mildew to permeate inside the classroom.

The classroom is also on the brink of losing its floor as the wood that it is made out of is no longer steady.

“We had our accreditation last March, and this is one of the recommendation that came from the accreditation team, that we need to reconstruct because it is clearly not safe for the kids,” Salas said. “I’m looking for resources to address that recommendation.”

Salas said that only one of the two Kindergarten classrooms will be demolished and reconstructed before the next school year.

“We cannot afford to build another classroom. I’m hoping that through appropriation from the Legislature, they’re looking into funds in helping us build the other classroom. For the meantime I cannot wait for the appropriation, because they keep telling us that we have the funds and then later on we find out it’s not there. This is our way of showing them that we’re not going to settle and wait for the next two years. We want to take action because we’re concerned for our students’ safety ” Salas said.

The classroom with the worst condition will be demolished, while the other one will undergo major renovations—safe enough for incoming Kindergartners.

Salas said the Legislature had confirmed $120,000 in July 2007 for the renovation of classrooms and infrastructure. However, after a meeting with the Department of Public Works, she said she found out the money was never forwarded to DPW.

“That’s when it prompted me to look into other resources,” Salas said.

SVS received its share of $20,800 from the $250,000 Tan Siu Lin donation to the Public School System. This, Salas said will help the school pay for the reconstruction of the Kindergarten classroom.

Salas disclosed that it would cost a little over $32,000 for the construction; the PTA will match the remaining funds of $12,000.

She said that when the school was told that it had received its share of the Tan Holdings donation, she reviewed the priorities of the school and determined that fixing the Kindergarten classrooms was the highest priority.

Salas said that SVS still needs to schedule a meeting with contractors along with PTA officers and figure out how to execute the contract.

It would take at least 52 days for the construction project.