| Pacific
News
After almost a year of double sessions, students at Price Elementary School
returned to a regular schedule November 17, when 17 new classrooms were
completed. The classrooms replace those destroyed by last December’s
Supertyphoon Pongsona. Work continues at other Guam schools; a total of
117 classrooms are being rebuilt at 14 of the island’s public schools.
A five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education will strengthen
violence- and drug-prevention among Native Hawaiian students. PREL’s
Na Hoa Hoola program will receive $637,393 in annual funding from the
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program.
PREL received a Healthy Workplace Award (HWA) from the Hawaii Psychological
Association for its staff development program and community participation.
PREL was also recognized as one of Hawaii’s top 250 businesses
by Hawaii Business Magazine.
The European Union has announced grants of more than $8 million to fund
basic education in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of
the Marshall Islands, and 12 other Pacific nations. New
Zealand will contribute an additional $3 million.
More than 1,500 pairs of eyeglasses were distributed free of charge
to people in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic
of Palau, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. The eyeglasses were donated
by the Lions Clubs of Hawaii and distributed by PREL in cooperation with
the Pacific Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA).
On November 25 Typhoon Lupit hit Ulithi Atoll and Woleai and Fais islands,
causing extensive property damage but no injuries. The storm forced school
closings of a week or more in these areas. Leaks
destroyed instructional materials in some classrooms. Crops were also
damaged, and this year’s harvest will be significantly impacted.
Callistus Legdesog, a respected Yap educator, passed away in early September.
He was a Pacific Educator in Residence at PREL from 1992-1995 and a founding
member of the Pacific Curriculum and Instruction Council (PCIC). In April,
while serving as Yap’s Deputy Director of Education, he completed
a Master of Science degree program in Instructional Technology and Telecommunications
from Western Illinois University.
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