Guam Public School System Superintendent Dr. Nerissa Bretania Shafer is expressing her “disappointment” after learning that more than $52,000 worth of textbooks were discovered sitting in the agency's warehouse in Piti. The discovery was made after GPSS recently placed an order for textbooks. The news also follows an October audit released by the Office of Public Auditor citing several discrepancies with the way textbooks are procured and handled.
In an interview in late October with KUAM News Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks said GPSS not only lacked standard operating procedures district wide in the ordering of textbooks, but also lacks someone to oversee the entire Curriculum and Instruction Division (which handles textbook procurement).
The report also revealed that no reliable inventory existed to efficiently and effectively acquire, distribute and account for textbooks, and that locally funded textbooks are not managed as well as federally funded textbooks.
