by Michele Catahay

Guam - While ample notice had been given to the Department of Education to move its equipment out of the old offices in Tiyan, it's apparent that the largest agency in the Government of Guam hasn't moved along quickly. With the landlord giving DOE a deadline to move out completely, the department still has a long ways to go.

DOE Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Eva San Nicolas says while she was assured by staffers that items were being moved out of the old Tiyan offices, only one of the four buildings are even close to finished. Just a few weeks ago, KUAM News told you about the hundreds of items still being stored in Tiyan, even after a year when employees were forced to move out because of unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

"We've had a few of our personnel go back and we've been working with the Department of Corrections to clean the place out, at the same time, we found out there are still a little bit of property remaining from special education and they were there to take a look at what property needs to be surveyed and I was informed by May Cruz, who said that property was surveyed previously," Dr. San Nicolas added.

She says the Special Education Division has to go back and look at what was surveyed and follow up with the Maintenance Division to see what could be taken out. She says the problem is that DOE only has one flat bed to service the entire school system. She says the lack of equipment is hampering DOE's ability to move items out coupled with the unsafe conditions of the building.

"Primarily we didn't want to expose our employees to that hazardous environment and secondly, we need to find a location to find these items," she explained. Last month was the deadline given by the landlord to move all the items out, but San Nicolas says they just don't have the manpower and equipment to complete the task.

Meantime, employees under the learning resources center are still situated at Chief Brodie Elementary School and the JFK annex until such time a more permanent place is identified.

Said San Nicolas, "We're really looking to see whether there's a possibility to have the Learning Resource Center in one of the schools, in a centrally-located school so that all of our teachers can have access to it. But at this point, our schools are pretty much maxed out."