Public school students recently began summer and Guam Department of Education superintendent reflected on what his final school year, 2021-2022, was like.

It was a learning roller coaster - that appears to be the way GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez described what his last school year to be at the helm of the island's largest school system.

"Well, you know, we've been working for the last few years to get back to normal and try to get back to some level of normal after the pandemic. This year, we started off with a few bumps," said Fernandez. "We were ready for in-person instruction but as you know there was additional waves, we had to shut down temporarily in September but then we were able to come back for in person instruction in November. When Omicron hit the island in January we had a real challenge trying to keep our schools open but we did it. We were able to maintain opening schools for in-person instruction."

With the goal of keeping students in the classrooms for five-days of in-person instruction, it was achieved because of GDOE employees, according to Fernandez.

"Our staff stayed the course. Some went from central office to the classrooms to help keep our schools open. After that period we were just confident that we continue to withstand the challenges of this environment and make sure that our kids come to school each and every day and thats worked," he said.

Fernandez shared that next school year could like pre-COVID, saying, "We think we're getting back to a point in time where our kids can expect to come to school every day, our teachers can focus on the progress that they've made and need to make and we can get back to the core mission of teaching and learning which is what we're all about."

As KUAM News reported in March 2022, in-person instruction will be in full swing come August when over 27,000 students are anticipated to return, the Guam Education Board approved. GDOE will be ready to switch classes to online in the event COVID-19 worsens on the island.