Marianas Variety Guam Edition

A BILL that seeks to keep F.Q. Sanchez Elementary School in Umatac open has now been placed in the voting file of the legislature.

Bill 95, authored by Sen. Matt Rector, would allow the school to continue operating despite a recommendation made by Evergreen Solutions LLC in an audit of the Guam Department of Education concluded earlier this year, to shutter the school as a cost-saving measure for the financially-challenged department.

During yesterday’s session, about 60 students and parents held a rally outside the legislature in protest of the recommendation for the school’s closure. The group bore posters insisting the school remain open.

In the face of strong community support for Bill 95 however, Rector encountered resistance from some fellow senators, including Republican lawmaker Telo Taitague.

Taitague expressed opposition to Bill 95 saying she felt that the measure contained union language and appeared to show micro-management on the part of the senators.

“We’re not there to micro-manage the opening and closing of schools. That’s DOE’s job,” Taitague claimed but shifted tone and then clarified that her intentions was not to close the school.

“The community in Umatac were the one’s to keep the school open and I believe they will still be the ones to make sure it stays open,” she said. “Umatac Elementary is open and is open today because the community was there when there was a threat to close it.”

Rector, on the other hand, said in a media release that he did not think there is any type of micromanaging going on with his effort to safeguard the continuity of the Umatac school.
 
The freshman senator did note however, that he thinks that everything the legislature does is “pretty much micro management.”

“We help set the standards.  Not only is it our job, but it’s also our responsibility,” he said.

He is glad the measure made it to the third reading or voting file where it is expected to be voted on tomorrow during session.

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