Central school will remain closed until January

by Nick Delgado

Guam - Students at Ordot-Chalan Pago Elementary will get an early Christmas break - this after the Department of Education announced late this afternoon classes have been canceled for the rest of the week as a safety precaution. DOE deputy superintendent Robert Malay commends the staff at Ordot-Chalan Pago Elementary for doing an excellent job at executing their emergency response plan Monday when the entire school was placed on a modified lockdown.

He said, "They did a tremendous job in executing the plan and very seamless for the teachers to put the plan into action, so that's a good example of these emergency response plans and how they're utilized at the school." The Guam Police Department, as well as the Department of Education are keeping a tight lid on why classes were cancelled today and now for the remainder of this week. As we reported a threat was made late last week to an employee at the campus which prompted Monday's lockdown and today's closure. DOE or GPD have not releases specifics of the threat but evidently it appears to be serious enough to close the school. Meetings were held today to determine what happens next.

"We're going to continue tog et information and work collaboratively with the police department to see where we are and to see what we're able to do we'll have to take that step by step and see what develops through the course of today," he said.

Just before 4:30 this afternoon DOE issued a press release informing the community that classes at Ordot-Chalan Pago Elementary are cancelled for the rest of the week - according to DOE superintendent Jon Fernandez until they are comfortable that student safety is not compromised Ordot-Chalan Pago will remain closed. All DOE has confirmed is that the closure is in response to an incident involving the relationship of a person working at the school and an unnamed individual. 

GPD also would not release any information other than to say the case remains under investigation. Students are expected to return to school in January.