Despite multiple efforts in trying to convince board members, senators, and other island decision-makers to have FQ Sanchez Elementary remain open, the Guam Education Policy Board members voted to close down the school at yesterday’s board meeting. For years, elected leaders have attempted to close the school but strong community action saved the children, teachers and staff of FQ Sanchez. Unfortunately, this time the new board decided to look at calculations in spread sheets rather than the children’s academic performance.
The Working Family TV Show aired a great segment on FQ Sanchez elementary last year. In the clip, FQ Sanchez Teacher, Grace Claros, explains how well her students perform in their academics as well as the community involvement. “The performance in academics for this school, because of the decent class sizes, we are able to actually take on each child with their challenges…we’re able to bring them up more so than a usual school where children tend to fall through the cracks. Our strengths are the community, the school community. We’re very close with our faculty and staff. We’re very close with the parents. The parents are very involved. The community itself takes part in a lot of our activities because of the school, it’s right in the middle of the village and all the children here do so well. It’s always so great to see that everyone wants to pitchâ€.
GovGuam spends too little on education. We should be investing more into the education system. The amount we will be saving with the closure of the school is such an insignificant number and would only disrupt our children’s learning. The families of Umatac love their village school and it’s a shame to take this away from the children.
