Students, teachers, and parents packed Tiyan High School for a town hall hosted by the committee on education – with the crowd making one thing clear to the Guam Education Board: Tiyan High is here to stay.

On Tuesday – the debate over Tiyan's future was laid out in the campus gym, where the community spoke out against any talk of closure or redistricting. Senator Vincent Borja, who chairs the committee, applauded the turnout, while GDOE superintendent Dr. Erik Swanson told the crowd he was there to listen to their concerns directly. 

Tiyan’s athletic director Rommel Losinio opened the town hall with a video from a Guam Education Board ad hoc committee meeting – where options to end double-=sessions at John F. Kennedy and Simon Sanchez High were discussed.

The video included then-committee chair Maria Gutierrez referring to Tiyan as a “temporary school.” GEB chair Angel Sablan later confirmed that Gutierrez resigned as ad hoc chommitte chair the very next day.

Losinio added the possibility of closing Tiyan was never mentioned a year ago, saying, “Last September or October when we went to the meeting, we were given reassurances that there’s no mention that we’re closing Tiyan High School. There’s no mention that we’re going to redistrict.”

Sablan reassured the room that Tiyan High School won’t be going anywhere, promising, “Tiyan is safe.”

“Over my dead body – before Tiyan is closed.”

Student body president Kayla Santos spoke passionately, saying the board’s inaction towards resolving the ongoing double-session issue shouldn’t cost others their school. “Who is protecting Tiyan? The answer is no one because the very people that are supposed to safeguard and protect our future are the ones intending to end it," she said.

“You can’t defend your own legacy while simultaneously offering a solution that would end another’s...as a solution to your inadequacy, it seems like you’re using us as an easy way out, as a last-ditch effort to save face. Why do us Titans have to suffer the consequences of your own inaction? If you are going to bring us down, then so be it, but we are not going down without a fight.”

Student Tia Jackson called out the lack of transparency. “How can we trust our board when the public statements and the private actions don’t align?”she questioned. “Now we’re told that Mrs. Gutierrez resigned because she felt pressure, but if a [board] member can act improperly and resign when confronted and face no accountability whatsoever, then what does that say about the board’s credibility?”

Student Sophia Yen warned that closing a school doesn’t save money – it costs opportunity. Teacher Frank Flores reminded the crowd of what they’ve built: the first Career Academy-certified school in the Western Pacific Region.

Former deputy superintendent Erica Sanchez, who had a part in opening THS in 2012, said there was never any indication the school would be temporary. And teacher Mariana Hernandez urged GDOE to hold coretech – which built and leases the facility – accountable for maintenance.

As the crowd rose in applause, one message echoed through the gym: the Titans built this school – and they’re determined to keep it.

In the meantime, the Guam Education Board maintains that Tiyan High is not on the table for closure – and plans to end double-sessions are still under review.