by Krystal Paco

Guam - The 46 students at Providence International Christian Academy aren't the only ones learning a lesson or two - so too, are owners Will and Paula Schmidt. The Schmidts opened the first-floor of their home in Tamuning as a school last year, but were reprimanded for not having the proper permitting from the island's various regulatory agencies.

According to Paula, a recent inspection from Public Health cited the school for a dark restroom, lack of a urinal, sliding doors, and for doubling as a home for the Schmidt Family on the second floor. Paula says although she's pleased the agencies are working with her to deem the school safe for students, the process of obtaining permits is flawed.

She said, "The hardest part that we've come across is that there's not a lot in writing and when we ask can you put that in writing for us or where's the regulations, we're finding out a lot of its not in writing. So it's open to interpretation of the person that's trying to enforce it. But the best thing that could come out of this is for the different agencies that don't have clear guidelines about what they want so that anyone wanting to open a business or whatever, can ask for what's expected in writing, so it'll be easy to comply."

According to Environmental Health Specialist Marilou Bumagat, the rules and regulations pertaining to school sanitation are handed out prior to inspection, but there are no specific regulations against the Schmidts living upstairs to the school. "One of the rules was about us living upstairs and I said, 'Well can you give us that in writing or show us the regulations that says we can't live upstairs of our own house?', and we got a letter back from them that says we don't have it in our regs, it's just what we've always done, and you can't make up the laws as you go along they have to be clearly defined so that the law abiding citizen can abide by them. It can't change from person to person or organization," she detailed.

According to Department of Public Works Deputy Director Carl Dominguez, the agency is the final regulatory agency to sign-off before the Tamuning school can operate legally, but says he will look into making criteria more clear for future permit seekers. Asked if he had a hard copy to give to someone applying for an occupancy permit, he responded, "I don't think so, but it's something I'll look into if that'll improve our service to the public. We'll certainly look into it and do it because the governor wants us to improve service to the public."

"We will likely have to get together with the other agencies to iron out what they should be."

The Tamuning school continues to operate with a minimal assembly permit from the Guam Fire Department as they await a Guam Land Use Commission public hearing scheduled for late-March. The Schmidts are working to correct Public Health violations, including plans with an engineer to construct a firewall to divide the upstairs living quarters with the downstairs school. The Schmidts have also purchased a van to be used for school functions and are currently working on obtaining the licenses to operate it.