George Washington High School makes final push to pass inspection

Sitting at 44 acres as one of the biggest and oldest public school campuses under the Guam Department of Education, George Washington High School has been chipping away at its failing self-inspection grade of 56 demerits. 

But the effort to get the Home of the Geckos to a passing rating by Public Health is one that can’t be done by one school community and its volunteer support alone.

“I got a dozen workers–Uog came with skilled workers–plumbers, electricians, and we came in there with PBS, along with a lot of great volunteers, school people, and we hit it hard,” said Dave Dell’isola, Department of Labor Director. 

DOL is just one agency part of the governor’s school opening readiness team assigned to GW.

It's help from SORT that GW Principal Dexter Fullo said he’s grateful. 

“For the first time in a long time, we actually felt the resources were finally coming to us that were needed. With all hands on deck, the whole government approach, it really made a big difference,” said Fullo. 

That collective aid made a drastic difference in bringing bathroom stalls and showers up to code and installing new air conditioning. 

“Those are all demerits that would have made us fail, but because of the aggressive timeline that we met and the resources coming in, we were able to meet a lot of it,” Fullo added. 

To note, GW is the first GDOE school up for refurbishment, and that work is underway by Core Tech International. 

Now, time will only tell if hard work pays off, as GW awaits official word for when it can welcome students back.