Tiyan High School and Simon Sanchez High School students will return to in-person instruction on Wednesday, Sept. 23, but not at the Tiyan campus. Guam Department of Education Superintendent Judith Won Pat held a press conference on Saturday to announce the return of double sessions.

Simon Sanchez High School will be hosted at Okkodo High School, while Tiyan High School will be hosted at George Washington High School.

Okkodo High School students will begin the school day at 6:40 a.m. with the “Warning Bell” and be released at 11:45 a.m., followed by Simon Sanchez students will report to class at 12:50 p.m. and be released at 5:05 p.m.

The schedule places Okkodo High School teacher lunch and office hours toward the end of the school day, at 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., respectively. Simon Sanchez teacher office hours and lunch are front-loaded, at 10:05 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.

Student lunches will be provided through Grab-and-Go meals. Students will also receive personalized learning.

The students have three instructional blocks 80 to 85 minutes long with a five-minute break between Block 2 and Block 3.

George Washington High School students and Tiyan High School will follow similar schedules. GWHS students, however, have four instructional blocks and a 25-minute advisory period.

The move is a response to a revelation that the plumbing issues at the Tiyan campus are far greater than officials anticipated.

Won Pat reported that a smoke test conducted by the Guam Waterworks Authority was conducted last Friday at the Tiyan campus to figure out why an "obnoxious" odor continued to be present even after the installation of P-traps, jetting of pipes and crack and crevice repairs were made to the school's restrooms.

'Unfortunately, smoke was coming out between the walls and every crevice that we could find," Won Pat said.

The smoke was also seen emitting from other buildings on the campus, as well as Guahan Academy Charter School and the Tiyan headquarters, according to Won Pat, who said the plumbing is all connected.

"So, we knew that the problem is much bigger than what CTI (Core Tech International) or what we could handle, prolonging the time, time we don't have to be able to then make up for the instruction," Won Pat said.

Won Pat said the decision to move to a double session schedule was made by the school principals.

Community meetings for all four schools are set for Monday, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m. at the respective schools.