Students, parents, teachers and elected officials gathered Sunday at the ITC intersection in Tamuning to advocate for the rebuilding of Simon Sanchez High School. With a unified message, they called for years of delays to end as the process of selecting a contractor for the new campus returns to the starting line and Tiyan High School, the school's host campus, remains closed because of imminent health risks.
Participants waved signs calling for Simon Sanchez High School to be rebuilt and urging education officials not to pursue redistricting.
“My first priority is getting our students back into the classroom sooner rather than later,” Won Pat said. “Every day of instruction matters, and we are working diligently to prevent any further loss of instructional time while ensuring our schools are safe and ready for students and staff.”
Redistricting is among the options discussed during a meeting last week involving GDOE leadership, school principals and the Guam Federation of Teachers, Won Pat said. However, GDOE stressed Sunday that no decisions have been made.
“Contrary to some reports circulating among students and families, redistricting is not on the agenda for Monday's meeting, and no vote or action on redistricting will be taken,” GDOE Public Information Officer Damen Michael Borja said.
Instead, options developed by high school principals on Aug. 20 will be presented to the Guam Education Board. Those options include redistricting, a return to double sessions, and asynchronous learning through online instruction and hard-copy packets, which remains the current arrangement.
The protest was held ahead of Monday's Guam Education Board meeting, where GDOE leadership is expected to present a report on options being explored to address challenges related to teacher shortages, adult supervision, support services and student transportation.
Simon Sanchez High School Principal Carla Masnayon described the turnout to the protest as “amazing,” noting that support extended beyond the school's own community.
Hundreds of Simon Sanchez students have gone through high school without ever attending classes on their home campus. Instead, they have spent years in double sessions while the procurement process stalled because of protests and litigation.
The Department of Public Works has since canceled that procurement and plans to issue a new request for proposal, maintaining that the decision was made in the best interest of Guam.
Hayden Gurumow, the Simon Sanchez High School freshman class representative, who helped organize the rally said the message to decision-makers is simple.
Sanchez Teacher Monica Flis said students understand the importance of having a permanent campus.
“We need a campus. We need a place to be. We need a place to build a community,” Flis said. “We're kind of tired of waiting. It's been three years and really nothing has happened. In fact, we just got back to step one. They just canceled the procurement, and we need to step up and say this isn't right. We've got to do something. Do you actually value the education of students on this island? If so, let's show it. Let's make this happen already. It's been too long that we haven't had a school.”
Although Flis supports rebuilding Simon Sanchez, she said she would prefer double sessions or a staggered schedule over redistricting if those become the available options.
Flis argued that redistricting would create significant disruption for students, families and schools.
“It's just going to disrupt the students and the families and the schools,” Flis said. “Instead of trying to paper over it with redistricting, let's solve the problem of maintaining our schools and keeping them open.”
The Guam Education Board is scheduled to meet on Monday.
