Guam's public and private schools transition (back) to online learning

The governor's latest executive order went into effect at 8am today... limits on social gatherings for the vaccinated only and the suspension of in person learning for both public and private schools. Guam's educators are again working to make the switch to online learning.

Private and public schools are still working to transition from face-to-face learning back to online, after the governor recently announced about suspending in person instructions. Governor Lou Leon Guerrero announced Friday that face-to-face school instruction for pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade would be suspended, which came into effect Monday.

The decision was made after consultation with Guam Department of Education Superintendent Jon Fernandez.

KUAM News spoke with private school officials about they're transitioning plan.

With the late notice of the in person school suspension, Harvest Christian Academy School Administrator Pastor Jeremy Zajicek said that they are scheduled to begin online classes this Wednesday.

"So a couple of things - our teachers are getting better and better at delivering online learning. It's not optimal, we know that. We've done standardized testing for the online learning format. Our learning trajectories are being affected so we've got to keep that in mind," he said. "That being said, all the experience we had from last year is being leveraged. So we have one day if having inservice today to kind of coordinate some schedules and get some of those things rolled out and then Tuesday for us is materials pick up because we were notified after school on Friday that really Friday so kids need the books and materials to get going so we will be launching Wednesday morning with our online classes."

To date, there have been only three students who contracted the virus at Harvest Christian Academy.

Unlike Harvest Christian Academy, Father Duenas Memorial School and St. Johns School had a smooth transition from face to face to online.

Moving forward private school heads are asking to be apart of the discussion regarding

FDMS Principal Ismael Perez explained, saying, "But we are looking for that measurement to get back on campus and hopefully they do engage with the professionals in the education field and look for solutions because we might be able to come up with creative ways to do that, to get back on campus in a safe way, even if its in cohorts, half campus, we might finds ways to do academics on campus in a safe and controlled way that would meet requirements but we need to be given a chance to help with that solution."

There were four students at FDMS who tested positive for the virus. About 93% of school staff are fully vaccinated against the virus.

Meanwhile, GDOE is still working with the transition in accordance with the executive order.

During the community and parent input session Saturday, parents asked why the schedule cohorts from last school year can not be adopted this school year as well.

GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez said, "In the event that we need to make a change cohorts would be and we have been working with the schools to prepare for that eventuality but the governor has informed me that because of what they are seeing on the health care side because of the increases the term that is gonna get better before it gets worse she likened it to an infection to be treated and that would be needed to address it immediately and at once to really stem that and stop that infection and that suspending in person learning in her judgement would be more effective measures than taking half measures. Which is what we were requesting in terms of the cohorts."

As KUAM News reported, the hard copy model of learning will not be returning this school year due to the lack of student and teacher interaction.

To watch the GDOE's community and parent input session and its entirety, the link can be found on our Facebook page.

According to GDOE Interim Public Information Officer Michelle Franquez, discussion on how they plan to accommodate special needs students is still ongoing.