{"id":299905,"date":"2019-05-21T06:06:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T20:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=299905"},"modified":"2019-05-21T06:06:53","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T20:06:53","slug":"299905","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/299905\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018PSS not ready for another typhoon\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Education Commissioner Glenn Mu\u00f1a, right, answers questions of members of the House Ways and Means Committee while PSS finance officer Chris Ching, left, looks on in yesterday\u2019s budget hearing at the House chamber on Capital Hill. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Public School System hopes it wouldn\u2019t face another super typhoon in the next 10 to 15 years and is, in fact, not even ready for your run-of-the-mill typhoon, according to Education Commissioner Glenn Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging the long-shot nature of that wish, Mu\u00f1a noted that, as it stands, PSS has yet to recover fully from Super Typhoon Yutu, which devastated several PSS campuses in late October 2018. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not ready for another typhoon season,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026We not only run an educational institution; we also run some of the island\u2019s primary short-term shelters,\u201d he said during yesterday\u2019s annual budget hearing session with the House Committee on Ways and Means.<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1a noted that at least 10 PSS buildings are also designated as shelters. <\/p>\n

While PSS shelters are intended as short-term shelters only, Super Typhoon Yutu was so destructive that PSS had no choice, but to operate them for over a month, he said.<\/p>\n

In terms of expenses, August 2015\u2019s Typhoon Soudelor was less expensive to recover from compared to Super Typhoon Yutu.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven our current financial situation and the current workflow that we have toward [Super Typhoon Yutu] recovery, we are not ready for another set of typhoons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a result of Super Typhoon Yutu, the CNMI government has implemented a government-wide belt-tightening, forcing PSS to halt full-time employee hiring and within-grade increases. <\/p>\n

Besides the austerity measures, PSS is also thinking of decreasing the work-hours of its employees. The Board of Education has yet to approve that plan.<\/p>\n

Yutu decimated the Herbert G. Hopwood Middle School in Chalan Piao, rendering the whole campus unusable and forcing its nearly 1,000 student population to continue their classes in tents right next to the Koblerville Elementary School.<\/p>\n

The Francisco M. Sablan Middle School lost a whole building to the super typhoon, while Oleai Elementary School also sustained damage. Marianas High School, one of the several schools that were opened as a shelter, reported damage to some of their older buildings, including having the roof of their new gymnasium blown off.<\/p>\n

Super Typhoon Yutu also forced the BOE to approve at their recent board meeting last week PSS\u2019 recommendation to extend its summer break by a month to save a month\u2019s worth of utility costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest worry are the temporary classrooms,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a. <\/p>\n

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the temporary classroom tents can withstand winds of up to 120 mph, roughly the equivalent of a Category 3 typhoon.<\/p>\n

Super Typhoon Yutu was a Category 5 typhoon with the highest recorded windspeeds of up to 177 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is going to happen if a [Category 4 typhoon or stronger] hits the CNMI? Where are we going to get funding for that?\u201d Mu\u00f1a asked. \u201cAs much as possible, we do repairs with the little money we get. <\/p>\n

He assured, though, that continuing to provide services to the community is PSS\u2019 priority.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Public School System hopes it wouldn\u2019t face another super typhoon in the next 10…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":299914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}