A few years after a plan to build a Koblerville Junior High School was approved, hopes remain dim that this will be realized in the near future following disclosure that funding has yet to be committed for the project.<\/p>\n
Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan told Saipan Tribune that both the Public School System and the Board of Education are still in \u201cwait-and-see mode\u201d as to the plans of the Inos administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t know the plan of the central government [for this project]. It is the government that has to make available the needed funds to build the Koblerville Junior High School,\u201d said Sablan.<\/p>\n
She said that no funds have been identified and committed up to this time. <\/p>\n
She estimates that construction of the facility, including collateral equipment and other fixtures, will cost around $15 million. And because PSS is a non-revenue generating agency, it has no capability to obligate such funding requirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre we still pushing through with this project? Well, it all depends on the central government,\u201d Sablan pointed out.<\/p>\n
Beginning this new school year, PSS will reconfigure and transform three elementary schools into middle school campuses in an aim to eliminate overcrowding in many schools. <\/p>\n
When the Koblerville Junior High project was approved, it was disclosed that the campus will be patterned after the Chacha Oceanview Middle School design\u2014which can accommodate 600 to 700 students.<\/p>\n
During the Fitial administration, a land was identified for the new middle school. However, this land, Sablan said, remains owned by private individuals. <\/p>\n
Whether the government plans to acquire it for PSS or have it exchanged for other public lands remains unknown at this time.<\/p>\n
When the project was unveiled in 2010, PSS wanted to build 10 buildings: four classroom buildings with 27 classrooms, a cafeteria, a library, a vocational building, a horticulture building, a music building, and a water storage tank. The entire facility is estimated to house up to 700 students. <\/p>\n
In 2011, the Northern Marianas Housing Corp., using block grants, provided $1.1 million to acquire the standing \u201clease\u201d on the property, the location of which is an ideal site to build a junior high school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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