Guam - Things are cooling down at George Washington High School as the campus got some help from the Guam Power Authority. Santa and his little helpers came in the form of five GPA air conditioning technicians this year.

According to spokesperson Art Perez, media reports on the school's battle with the heat prompted the agency to help. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done and DOE Maintenance has their hands full. This is just one way for us to step up to the plate and help out," he said.

According to Department of Education facilities and maintenance manager Billy Cruz, the extra help is greatly appreciated as his division is working diligently to make repairs to schools islandwide. Although GW may have the worst A/C situation, Cruz says all schools have broken units - some units being more than 20 years old.

GW principal Begona Flores is especially thankful to have cooler classrooms in time for dry season.  The repairs may even delay the need to alter the bell schedule, as she said, "I really appreciate it one of the best that Christmas gifts when you know that there are people out there in the community willing to take time to contribute the time and effort to assist us, to come and rescue us. So alongside our DOE Maintenance people, his men were there too assisting. They don't have to come and help us they have their own work, but they came anyways."

In conjunction with sufficient A/C units, Flores is happy to report her school's "A" rating from the Department of Public Health. "I never thought that Public Health would shut us down because I saw the efforts and the amount of time and work put in by our maintenance men and again with the assistance of GPA crews," the administrator told KUAM News.