We take a look into education news as JP Torres Success Academy will be closing its doors with Guam Department of Education Superintendent, Dr. Judi Won Pat, choosing to end the program as a means to consolidate funds and because the department has similar programs.

"It is a program - it is not a school," Dr. Won Pat stated.

Recent public discourse occurred as GDOE Superintendent Dr. Won Pat closed down JP Torress Success Academy. KUAM confirmed with the superintendent about comments made by Guam Education Board Chair Angel Sablan about how only the board can close down a school.

However, because JP Torres is a program, and not a school, she does not need board approval. The superintendent telling KUAM about the process her predecessor, Dr. Kenneth Swanson, had to go through when shutting down two schools.

She said, "So in this case yes when the superintendent was going to decommission two schools, which was Brodie and LBJ he had to go before the board to have them concur with the closure. But programs itself is under the superintendent and the superintendent's decision."

JP Torres Success Academy, which was created by former GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez, was originally geared to assist students with behavioral issues, shifted to assisting students who are having difficulty graduating from secondary school within the standard four years provided they had no break in education and up to 19 years old.

According to Dr. Won Pat, there were several factors that were considered when deciding the shut down the program. One of them was how GDOE has similar programs stood up to assist students at no cost to them, such as intervention.

She continued, "The teacher will then be paid on his or her time and extra time to work with the student, to help the student get the credits that they're going to need so that they'll be able to graduate."

Or, the Asmuyao program.

"Where we give Asmuyao federal dollars for every child that they are actually teaching to help them recover their credits, and that's free for the student because we give federal dollars to them," she explained.

There is also the Guam Community College's Adult Education Program which provides students an opportunity to earn their G.E.D. "Our schools have Eskuelan Puengi - the night school," she said. "So, then the children again can attend the night school, and we have summer school as well. So we have all these programs in our school and so the Success Academy has basically duplicating what we already offer and the extra money we're paying for it."

According to Dr. Won Pat, JP Torres cost GDOE an estimated $2 million, which will now be consolidated into other areas, like faculty being absorbed into other schools to fill their vacancies. She added, "The teachers there who are assigned to teach at Sanctuary and DYA will remain there and will continue to teach with those children. The other teachers have already met with our HR office and have been given first priority to look at where the vacancies are in other schools and they have chosen to go to a particular school. So no one will lose their jobs."

Another saving for the department would be utilizing the space left behind from JP Torres as the temporary home for the Sharks. "We would need that wing that they're currently using for Simon Sanchez when they move to Tiyan. So we're trying to make all whatever space available for them because we're talking about approximately maybe 2,400-2,500 students combined. Sanchez will be at one part of the campus and Tiyan will be at the other side of the campus," she said.