SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER AND ANTI-BULLYING PROGRAMS

SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY
For Immediate Release
(July 19, 2016)(Guam Judicial Center Hagta) The Judiciary of Guam announced the
immediate suspension of the School Resource Officer Program, Play By The Rules Training &
Curriculum, Safe School Ambassador Program, and Olweus Bully Prevention Program in the
Guam Department of Education and Private Non-Public Schools. School resource officers will
be absent from public high-school campuses when school opens next month.
We regret to inform the public that the school resource officer program and the various antibullying programs that the court has regularly offered to our students have been suspended
indefinitely by the Department of Education. said Court Administrator Joshua Tenorio.
On July 14, Tenorio received a letter from DOE Acting Superintendent Joseph L.M. Sanchez
informing court management that all programs provided by the judiciary would cease until a new
agreement was in place with the Judiciary of Guam. Prior agreements were based on interagency memorandums of understanding, which would no longer be acceptable to the U.S.
Department of Education. Services provided by government agencies must now be procured
through a Request for Proposal process. Copies of the letters are attached.
Although we remain committed to the justice-education partnership, these programs are not
locally funded and therefore cannot be sustained over the long-haul by the judiciary. It is my
hope that the Department of Education will prioritize the administrative requirements
necessary so that the process can be completed and services can be returned to our students.
said Tenorio.
School Resource Officers and program personnel have been advised of this program
development and have been informed that 60-day furlough notices would be issued in the next
few days.
For more information, please contact Sophia M. Diaz, Acting Director of Policy, Planning, and
Community Relations.
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