Last year on October, Senator Rory Respicio sent a letter to DOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez seeking clarification on the changes made to the 2015-2016 School Year Calendar. Senator Respicio has not received a response since then. The instructional time for elementary and high schools have increased to accommodate the shortened school year for FESTPAC. However, the revised calendar requires teachers to continue additional days of work on top of the increased work time.
Senator Respicio sent another letter on January 26, 2016 following up on his October letter to Jon Fernandez. “It would seem therefore that the workload has been increased for teachers by 7 days without commensurate compensation,” stated in Senator Respicio’s follow-up letter. This issue remains a serious concern to the Senator and many teachers in the public school system. At the beginning of the school year, GFT representatives and the Guam Education Board have agreed to meet in March to further discuss the revised school year calendar. Read more on the letter