The legislative chair of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Public Broadcasting believes an emergency exists at the Tiyan High School campus to the extent that, if he had the authority, he would shut down the facility that serves Tiyan High and Simon Sanchez High Schools today.
In an interview with Guam News Network, Thursday morning, oversight chair Sen. Vincent Borja said that a visit to the Tiyan, Barrigada, campus allowed him to witness firsthand the failing ACs, backed-up showers, clogged toilets and sewage leaks, which he called unacceptable.
He also shared that counselors are in the hallways with no AC, on their computers.
He questioned, "How did we get here when this is ... a Core Tech building?" While he acknowledged that "it's years and years of just ... lack of maintenance," he also questioned, "How are we getting past public health inspections?"
"Of course, ... administrators and teachers, they don't want to shut down schools, right? So, ... they do what they do to make sure that they pass the public health inspection," Borja said.
He added "GDOE Maintenance ...They've been ... working to address some of these things, but also, there are some things that they can't touch because of the contract, right? If they touch it, then it becomes a GDOE problem, which they try to stay away from, which ACs is a Core Tech problem. Bathrooms is a Core Tech problem. Leaking is a Core Tech problem. That's not a GDOE problem."
Borja was joined by Guam Department of Education, Tiyan and Simon Sanchez High School administration, the Department of Public Health and Social Services and the facilities contractor Core Tech Int. at the campus Aug. 12. Borja told Guam News Network that disputes over who's responsible for the maintenance led to years of "band-aid" fixes, which have now surfaced under increased student capacity of two school communities.
"There's a lot of things in the contract that GDOE really needs to examine, and we need to go back to the drawing board because there was a lot of arguing," Borja said.
The back and forth between GDOE and the contractor prompted Borja to step in as a mediator.
"I had to like step in and tell the contractor, okay, if you're saying that this is the way it's supposed to be, all I'm telling you is as taxpayers, this is not, this is not suitable for our students. We're not okay with this, right? This is not good enough. We cannot accept this anymore. If you're saying that the contract says that we, you can't do anything about it, this is not acceptable for our students," Borja said.
While he had seen pictures and heard the concerns from constituents, visiting the Tiyan High campus made him emotional.
Borja clarified that although he had thought the public health sanitary inspection would be eight days from Aug. 12, inspectors were present during his visit reportedly conducting an inspection.
"So, we'll find out either today or tomorrow what the results of that inspection was," he said.
Borja acknowledged that Core Tech Int. was present with a "team" and was working on items of concern identified during the meeting with the senator.
He did stress, though, that the Tiyan High facility needs will take weeks to address.
"There has to be drastic measures... I'm going to reach out to the military and see if they can come in and just take care of whatever they can take care of and help," Borja said. "It's really going to take a community effort to fix at least all the big stuff in the next couple weeks."
He said ultimately it is up to GDOE Superintendent Judith Won Pat to shut down the school if it passes public health inspection.
Borja also noted that he would be conducting a site visit to Southern High School following concerns over the facility received by his office.
Meanwhile, an oversight hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday will be rescheduled, as Won Pat, who just returned from off island, is out sick.
Guam News reached out to GDOE and Core Tech Int. for comment, responses were pending at the time of publication.