According to an article in the October 2015 issue of Triton’s Call, two areas on campus were assigned as overflow parking spaces. One is located near the Calvo Field House, where it is already used as parking for events such as commencement.

The second is located a few spaces from the paved roads across the Lecture Hall, HSS building and English and Communications building.

According to Jonas D. Macapinlac, director of Integrated Marketing Communications at UOG, the university plans to place gravel on these areas have already been thought out.

“We understand and acknowledge those concerns. Last year, there was a need to create more parking spaces on-campus. The Calvo Field House and the Dean’s Circle were identified because of the amount of free space available and the proximity to UOG buildings.” Macapinlac added “We are considering improvements to the overflow parking lots such as gravel walkways and lighting.”

Some students remain ambivalent to the current parking situation.

Kevin Martinez, a senior majoring in biology said, “This area  next to the field house is an issue because as the weather changes and rain starts pouring down the grassy area becomes muddy plus it is too far away from any classrooms. I usually drive around the campus to find any available parking.”

“The professors tend to call in saying that they’re running late because they had to try to find parking,” Martinez said.

Jason Aquino  a sophomore majoring in English said “The overflow parking at the Field House is good to have, but the only problem is that when it’s hot, it gets dusty and when it’s windy the dust messes up cars.”

Aquino also explained that the overflow parking area across the EC building also tends to get full.

UOG student and Communications major Michelle Moser  said, “One of my biggest concerns with parking at the moment is the lack of convenient spaces available during the day. I also wish the overflow parking across the street from the HSS building was properly paved and not just a grass field. Hopefully that is something that will be addressed in the near future.”  Precy Borja , who works as a laboratory assistant in the Science Building, said “I try to get here early and bring my lunch so that I don’t lose my parking space.”

Audio interviews with staff Precy Borja and students  Kevin Martinez and Jason Aquino

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Audio interviews with former ADA/EEO coordinator Elaine Faculo-Gogue and student Francis Dadufalza

Problem / Status Quo

In the Fall of 2015 a broken elevator at the English and Communications Building prevented Francis Dadufalza a student at UOG from attending classes that were located on the second floor. Dadufalza was accommodated by his instructor and was not marked absent and was given additional time to complete and submit assignments.

the University of Guam has had several incidences of inaccessibility to the second floors of facilities such as the Fine Arts, English and Communications Building, and Nursing building.

According to Okada, UOG Chief planning officer and acting institutional compliance officer,  “In regards to the English and Communications building, the concerns about elevators going down have to do with power fluctuations, which may cause burn outs within the elevator systems.”

Okada said, “this is what has happened on both occasions when the elevator was not working at the EC building.

Okada added that at times replacement parts for the elevators must be obtained from off-island and this causes a delay in repair.

“In such cases of elevator unavailability over a certain time, there are alternate considerations to re-locate classrooms to accommodate students with ADA needs.” Okada said

The Law

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) public areas and existing buildings and public places have to be renovated to ensure the buildings and public places can be accessed by individuals with disabilities.

Some issues that must be addressed include making accessible approach/entrances such as the routes of travel, ramps, parking, entrances, and access to goods and services, etc.

All of these areas have to be in compliance with ADAAG as mandated by federal law ADA Section 504 of the ADA.

As stated in the ADA guidelines “All areas of newly designed or newly constructed buildings and facilities and altered portions of existing buildings and facilities shall comply with section 4, unless otherwise provided in this section or as modified in a special application section.”

In new construction, a person or entity is not required to meet fully the requirements of these guidelines where that person or entity can demonstrate that it is structurally impracticable to do so. Full compliance will be considered structurally impracticable only in those rare circumstances when the unique characteristics of terrain prevent the incorporation of accessibility features.

If full compliance with the requirements of these guidelines is structurally impracticable, a person or entity shall comply with the requirements to the extent it is not structurally impracticable. Any portion of the building or facility which can be made accessible shall comply to the extent that it is not structurally impracticable.

According to Elaine Faculo-Gogue former institutional compliance officer, due to the inaccessibility of the second floor at the Fine Arts Building, a building at the Dean’s Circle was converted to accommodate the class until the chairlift was fixed.

Renovations and Future Plans

As far as renovations and upgrades are concerned according to Okada “a lot of these buildings are “grandfathered”, “which means that until such time that a certain level of renovation occurs, which triggers requirements to upgrade.

For the Nursing and Fine Arts buildings, as well as the rest of the facilities on campus, the Physical Master Plan, called Vision 2025, calls for a significant movement to upgrade and improve the campus and services related to student success for the 21st Century.  Among those “upgrades” include systems like elevators which will be brought up to current laws and codes specifications.”

“Truncated domes were placed in areas where there was a change in elevation to help individuals with visual impairments navigate around campus. They help the students to create a mental map of the facility.” Faculo-Gogue said

A partial walk-through was done around campus to help determine what improvements had to be done to help with accessibility issues on the campus.

Okada elaborated on the three phases of accommodations.

Phase 1 includes truncated domes (Yellow rubber pads) in selected areas of campus as well as Braille signs within selected buildings to meet immediate needs. 

Phase 2 involves expanding these areas for students who continue to have these needs and expand their classroom travels to take upper level division courses by allowing the student to leave class early.

Phase 3 is a longer term initiative that will involve the completion of the campus’ full compliance with the ADA by 2025.

The post Full ADA compliance is on the rise to complete UOG’s Vision 2025 appeared first on The Triton's Call.

Gachong is a community-based team comprised of adults with various cognitive and developmental disabilities who live and work in the community.

Gachong will be competing in events such as the 50-yard-assisted walk, 400 mile relay, softball throw, standing long jump, and running long jump.

Gachong was separated into different groups and each group was assigned to train in an event, with each group then rotating between events with the other groups throughout the day.

Anthony Smith Nelson is Gachong’s coach and it is his first time coaching. Nelson has volunteered with Special Olympics for a few years.

“Coaching these athletes is very inspiring.” Nelson said “Some of them are very energetic and ready to go.”

Nelson said “Although the athletes started off with some minor technique issues, they were able to fix those problems as the weeks progressed.”

For example, the athletes training for the softball event showed a remarkable increase in the distances where they were able to throw the softball.

Nelson also said  he learned that the athletes are competitive but always want to have fun.

Robin Fernandez is another volunteer coach. Fernandez is a medic by profession and has been coaching these athletes for past two years.

“it feels awesome to be coaching these athletes.” Fernandez said “I was nervous at first, but when you get to meet them you love them and you want to come back for more.”

Fernandez’s family also started volunteering for the track and field even while she was deployed. She brought her children out to meet these athletes to help them understand that despite having a disability, each person was to be treated the same.

She has also invited some of the athletes to her family functions. She loves being around the athletes because of their personality and how inspiring they can be.

Mark Pangelinan is a wheelchair-bound athlete who has been with Special Olympics on and off for several years.

Pangelinan has competed in other events for Special Olympics such as bowling. This year he is competing in softball throw and hundred meter race

“My goal is to get the gold this year.” Pangelinan said

The Special Olympic will be held on Saturday, March 19 at Okkodo High School. Showtime for all athletes is at 7 a.m. followed by opening ceremonies at 8 a.m. and the events start at 9 a.m. and will run until 4 p.m.

Special Olympics Guam  (SOGU) is a nonprofit organization that has been active on Guam since 1976 with the first Track and Field event officially kicking off in 1977. Volunteers donate their time to keep the program going.

Special Olympics Guam provides quarterly sporting events throughout the year starting with Track and Field, Bowling, Aquatics, and Golf.

Each event is modified to ensure individuals with all forms of disabilities are able to participate without prejudice.

The post Gachong goes for the gold at the 2016 Special Olympics track and field event appeared first on The Triton's Call.

Numerous bomb threats have been reported since February 2016 causing students in Guam’s public school system to miss several days of instructional time. Parents have expressed concerns that their children may have to miss school because of a potential bomb threat happening on a weekly basis. Schools such as Simon Sanchez High School and FB Leon Guerrero Middle School missed a day of instructional time while others missed hours.

According to Chris Anderson deputy superintendent of schools for the Guam Department of Education, GDOE has partnered with the Marshalls, Guam Fire Department, GPD, Port Authority, Guam Airport Authority, the Guam Customs, as well as other law enforcement agencies to tackle the problem of bomb threats.

This partnership which represents the Guam Fusion Center has adapted the Risk Assessment Matrix or RAM, a protocol utilized by the FBI. RAM is a protocol that would determine the threat level of potential bomb threats to Guam’s public school system.

According to Anderson “Prior to the adoption of the RAM, the standard protocol that schools would take involved contacting GPD and evacuating the campus.

“Given the brash of bomb threats that we’ve been receiving it was becoming a huge strain on public resources.” Anderson said “It was also reinforcing behaviors in students that we were trying to avoid.”

RAM consists of several questions to help administrators determine the level of threat a bomb scare poses to their facility.

With these questions administrators use a scoring system to help them determine whether the threat is high, medium, or low. In turn this decision can help them decide on whether class will be canceled or only be on hold for several hours.

This can help alleviate the unnecessary use of public resources.

Bomb threats are always taken seriously and are considered a terrorist act. Students who are caught making the threats face expulsion from the school system and jail time.

According to Anderson school administrators met Monday to discuss how simple and helpful the RAM was to help them determine the threat level of the bomb threats they had received in previous weeks.

Anderson said the administrators who used the RAM had positive remarks regarding its protocol.

With the RAM protocol in place, school administrators will now have an instrument to help determine how high of a threat level a potential bomb scare would be causing them to avoid missing precious instructional time in the future.

Although there were several bomb threats to several businesses in the community, the RAM protocol is only utilized within the school system at this time. Businesses are encouraged to work with the Marianas fusion Center to help determine the level of the bomb threat.

According to Anderson, parents have called saying they were happy to hear that there was another instrument that can use to determine the threats.

Julie Hernandez a UOG student stated that although she is not as informed about the RAM, she hopes it will help keep the community safe because it’s frustrating to have to change up your plans to deal with these threats.

Parents and students can approach their respective school administrators to give suggestions to improve the protocol as well as contacting the deputy superintendent’s office to give their suggestions.

GDOE takes the safety and well-being of students seriously and ask the community continue to help in maintaining the level of support.

Based on his observation Anderson feels the community has shown tremendous support toward the RAM protocol.

Lost Days

In order to make up for hours and days that were missed due to these bomb threats, the calendar committee had decided to either increase the amount of instructional days or instructional time.

No final decision has yet to be made.

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