SOUTHERN High School in Santa Rita was intended to be the jewel of the south, a state-of-the-art secondary school designed and constructed during the administration of former Gov. Joe Ada.

Almost from the day the contractor turned over the keys, it has been more of a wart than a jewel. The cost, variously estimated at $110 to $120 million, was exorbitant. Outside commentators pointed out we could have built three or even four new schools for what we spent on this one facility. Adding insult to injury, the school was never able to be fully utilized due to construction and site problems. Yet the contractor was never held liable, nor were any of the politicians who pushed this project ever scrutinized or made to explain the failures.

The baseball field was built with drainage grates in the outfield, making the entire field dangerous and unplayable. It was never used. The swimming pool cracked the minute it was filled with water. It had to be repaired before it could be used. Educators pointed out the design – sort of a low-rise motel – was inefficient and possibly even dangerous because some outside areas were hard to see, providing lots of places for groups of students to hide. Teachers and other education officials said they had never been consulted about the design.

The theater was the finest such facility on Guam, and was used for several years, but it finally had to be closed due to termite damage and mildew. The air-conditioning system for the theater and adjacent practice rooms was linked to some of the classrooms, and it failed regularly.

Shortly after the theater’s opening, the Guam Symphony Orchestra performed a concert there, after which the manager came over to Guam Symphony Society officials asking how the musicians liked it. “Fantastic!” they replied. “It’s a magnificent theater with great acoustics and comfortable seating for more than a thousand. We love it.”

“Then can you have some more concerts?” he pleaded. “I have no maintenance budget, and the only way I can raise money for maintenance is to lease out the facility.” This multi-million-dollar theater, a wonderful performing arts center with rehearsal rooms and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of audio-visual equipment and professional staging and lighting, had NO money in its budget for maintenance, not a dollar. From the moment the theater opened, it was doomed to decay and rot.

Now GovGuam has some American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money, and plans to repair or rehabilitate the theater to put it back in use. The ARRA money will be welcome, as will the restored theater; but if they do not provide for a hefty maintenance budget – and use it to actually maintain the place – the facility will simply slip back to where it is now, or worse.