DoH says it’s same old story when it comes to school maintenance

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Department of Education Director Taulauega Dr. Samasoni Asaeli, Deputy Director Folau Fa’afetai Teofilo, Maintenance Supervisor Don McMullin, and Acting Personnel Manager of Department of Health Aileen Solaita, were subpoenaed this past week by the House Education Committee to discuss a plethora of issues plaguing DOE. 

When asked about school readiness, DOE Deputy Director Folau mentioned a report that was not provided to Samoa News because it was “confidential” that detailed that about 15% - 18% of work was completed on Fagaitua High school. Leone Midkiff school was also included in this report, and per Deputy Director Folau, about 90% of the work there is completed. 

Solaita right away said that this is not new. “As of right now, the biggest obstacle we face is the maintenance of the schools, and every year, the upkeep of the schools is unsatisfactory and DOE waits to execute any maintenance work on the schools until the Department of Public Health conducts their visitation.

 “I’m unsure what else more I can say in regards to this because it’s the same findings that we observe every year. All these schools' main problem every year is unsatisfactory maintenance, with the second problem being termite infestation,” said Solaita. “It’s also unfortunate that the majority of newly built school buildings were being quickly infested by termites as well.” 

Solaita further divulged that she inquired from both the Director and Deputy Director about “whether or not treatments were being made before new buildings go up — because if pest or termite treatments are not conducted before new concrete goes up, it would just be another opportunity for termite infestation,” and she referred to what’s happening at Fagali’i Elementary School, which is a newly constructed school with high quality concrete but currently has termite infestation. 

 “It’s a problem we’ve been seeing over and over again in Fagali’i Elementary and it’s affecting the building, and Fagali’i is not the only school affected by termite infestation.” 

Another issue brought up by Solaita was poor ventilation in the schools — specifically not enough fans and air conditioner units for the schools. Other schools like Pava’ia’i and Tafuna elementary have screen wires that is in terrible condition and Solaita said that these are the same findings from previous years that they’ve addressed and when they conduct follow up visitations, they discover that the old and dilapidated screen wires are still not replaced.  

 “With the distribution of medicine for Lymphatic Filariasis and taking into consideration an impact assessment we conducted last year, we discovered that mosquitoes are spreading a “worm” that causes lymphatic filariasis”, said Mrs. Solaita. “This year as well, we heard about a dengue case that is carried by mosquitoes, and I present these findings to the members of the House and I’m unsure as to what else I can say because right now, these are the findings we observe in public schools.” 

Another issue brought up by Mrs. Solaita was the sanitation of school classrooms, where they discovered rat droppings on windows, desks, and in closets — “these things should be maintained. And this is why screen wires should be replaced to prevent rats from infesting the classrooms,” Solaita said as she reiterated that these findings are not new and have been addressed multiple times in the past years. 

 “Tafuna High school also made complaints about water leaks from the ceiling and into the classroom when there is a huge downpour. Tafuna High school’s gym, where students store their athletic equipment and spare clothing is in terrible condition, and again, these are not new findings,” Solaita said. “It seems like the Department of Education waits until Public Health comes in and conducts the assessment, then DOE starts executing these maintenance jobs that should be continuous, daily work. 

 “Our last follow up this month from the 7th to the 9th, there is work they have executed but a lot of the work is still not being done, like the replacement of old, dilapidated screen wires,” she said.  Solaita did note that the school cafeteria at Tafuna High school is in top tier condition thanks to the work of a Ms. Christina Fuala’au — but Mrs. Solaita did note that the restroom of the school emits a strong odor from the sewage tank, which she has addressed but has yet to be resolved. 

TA’S AND PER DIEM

Vice Speaker Fetui Fetu asked the DOE officials about teachers traveling from Manu’a for workshops conducted in Tutuila not receiving any per diem or TA’s during their travel for these events. 

“If there are any workshops conducted here in Tutuila, we ensure that everything is taken care of to cater to the teachers traveling from Manu’a. We also charter alia’s or planes to bring teachers and students to Tutuila for any DOE sponsored events and workshops,” said Director Taulauega. “And additionally, we’ve organized four charters this coming week to transport teachers to Manu’a who are in Tutuila on DOE business.”

In regards to the complaints by several educators that they haven’t received any per diem or TA’s, Taulauega said that if a teacher wants to acquire per diem and a TA, they must file an expense report. Taulauega also divulged that “the Treasury department cannot process anything unless the expense reports have been filed and cleared, and Treasury is constantly reminding teachers that if traveling, [they] must file said expense report before being issued a TA and per diem.” 

Director Taulauega did include, however, that students traveling from Manu’a are provided stipends when they travel to Tutuila for school competitions and other events sanctioned by DOE. “We’re not nitpicking which teachers receive and don’t receive TA’s and per diem, but we’ll contact the teacher’s who did not receive any per diem so we can do the right thing,” said Director Taulauega.

Vice Speaker Fetui then brought up that “there was a recent trip that students from Manu’a came to Tutuila for and when he visited the students, they told me that they had not received any meals and I gave them money so that they could have a meal for that day.” Vice Speaker Fetui then told Director Taulauega that if he was unaware of this situation, that now was a good time to make note of it to prevent it from happening in the foreseeable future.