by Krystal Paco

Guam - Teachers, staff, and students at George Washington High School are rattled, and with good reason.

With the school day nearing end at around 2:20 Wednesday afternoon, a flare-like substance was thrown into a classroom full of students...

Reported to the Guam Police Department as terroristic conduct, the Mangilao school has started an investigation of their own with the help of DOE Central Office.

Deputy superintendent Rob Malay said, "The incident is currently being investigated by the administration team. Here from Central Office we have deployed additional resources to assist with the process of determining exactly what happened and who is responsible. And allowing the school and the department to take appropriate actions on all those who may have been involved in the incident."

Currently, teachers are being asked to identify students who left their classrooms around the same timeframe as well as any students who returned winded from running as the suspect fled the scene immediately.

From the submitted names, administrators will develop a shortlist to hopefully identify the suspect.

Meanwhile, the incident only draws more attention to the Mangilao school who in recent months have required greater Guam Police Department presence on campus.

Malay speculates such incidences could be prevented once the GW community is able to realize a more manageable school population with the anticipated opening of a new central high at the CoreTech buildings in Tiyan next school year.

Currently, GW enrollment is at 2,700 students. The new central high would bring that down to under 2,000.

"I think the discussion about downsizing the enrollment numbers down at GW has been going on for a long period of time. I think all incidents are going to bring that topic, that concern up to the top of the priority list so there is currently a plan that is being looked at to move forward with enrollment numbers at George Washington High School, and perhaps with a smaller enrollment incidences such as these that they're experiencing right now can be avoided in the future," he said.

The teacher and students were evacuated from the classroom and no one was hurt in the incident.