by Michele Catahay

Guam - On Wednesday Guam will find out whether JFK High School is making the grade. Over the past three years the Islander community has been without a place to officially call home. They've overcome many obstacles that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges has recognized as they conduct their evaluation this week.

Chairman of the WASC Visiting Committee for JFK High David Moss says the school is doing the best it can with what it has, noting, "I can tell you that they're showing improvement and I'm pleased. They're doing that in spite of the fact that they were relocated three times in the last seven or eight years and two times in the past three years and that's very difficult, especially if you have to share a high school campus with another high school."

Just like any other school, Moss says there's still room for improvement. "Everybody needs to work on working together so the English teachers are working on the same kinds of things and the math teachers on the same kinds of things," he added. "Everybody and every school needs to work on those things. Every school needs to work on communication."

JFK Principal Ken Chargualaf is optimistic about the review saying JFK has addressed concerns raised by WASC in the past. "There were about seven or eight so called recommendations, but they're really not recommendations. They have responded to those recommendations," he stated. "Those are no longer issues. One of the things that was raised was on teacher attendance and that has greatly improved for the past three years."

With the new JFK High campus scheduled to be completed in June, Chargaulaf says things are only going to get better. "I really feel very confident and very positive that we're going to do very well and we're hoping for six years and somehow by just talking to them, I have a feeling we're going to attain that six years. I know we're going to get three, that's for sure. Six years is the goal," he told KUAM News.

The WASC team will present the findings of their visit to the superintendent and board on Wednesday.