School PTO President in Guam cares for teachers, families during COVID-19 crisis

Vanessa Renee Perez, President of the FATE/PTO at Finegayan Elementary School, getting ready to distribute skills packets to parents during a “Grab-and-Go” school meal service. Photo by Rhandee Malicdem, EBC Micronesia Bureau, Eagle News Service.

By Irishdale Radam (EBC Micronesia Bureau) and Alfred Acenas (EBC Hawaii Bureau)

DEDEDO, Guam (Eagle News) — Vanessa Renee Perez is president of the Family and Teachers Empowered (FATE) and Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) at Finegayan Elementary School in the northwestern village of Dededo. With the ongoing novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) outbreak throughout the U.S. territory and elsewhere, she describes her current personal experience as “pretty difficult” knowing that she has to carry on the “intrinsic duty to make sure that your students have the continuity of learning” no matter their situation.

Her school was still in the process of transitioning to distance learning when the Territorial Government ordered an immediate shutdown of places of gathering, including shopping malls, places of work and schools. This forced teachers to learn new methods sooner than later such as conducting web meetings, accessing official websites for references and using social media platforms to continue exchanging ideas and plans. Teachers also disseminated information to parents both in English and native Chamorro.

“We’re trying to work with the district to send out a nine-week proposal so that the equity of learning is given out to all students,” said Perez. “I know GDOE [Guam Department of Education] is planning on working with all these other community partners in getting it out there in the newspaper, through PBS [Public Broadcasting System], and putting it on the GDOE website. So we’re doing everything that we can to exhaust all the means so that distance learning will continue on Guam.”

Cars lined up at one of Guam’s schools awaiting to receive free meals for school-aged children during the territory’s island-wide lockdown due to the COVID19 pandemic. Photo by Rhandee Malicdem, EBC Micronesia Bureau, Eagle News Service.

 

Perez also acknowledged that the lack of resources at home is a common challenge for families as children continue schooling during this pandemic.  She said that some households do not have internet access while others do not have enough devices for every school-aged child. Perez assured that GDOE is doing everything it can to resolve such setbacks. One alternative method she mentioned is distributing “tangible copy of the skills [and assignments] to pass to our parents as they come into the ‘Grab-and-Go’ [free meal service for school-aged children].”

Perez expressed concerns that, while some families are taking this pandemic seriously, others are “taking it too lightly that it’s just gonna pass.” She frets, “If we push this to the side, before we know [it], our population would diminish.

“Right now we need to be safe, we need to stay healthy and we need to stay positive as a community,” Perez said. “We can beat this. You know the virus doesn’t move. People move the virus. So if we stay safe, and we stay positive and healthy, and we contain this, then we can beat it.”

Alluding to the fact that the West Pacific region has dealt with other disasters like typhoons, she adds, “And to all of Guam, let’s work together, we will overcome this like we always do.”

(Eagle News Service)