By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
The embattled superintendent of the Guam Department of Education today dismissed a senator’s call for her to step down amid double-session anxiety and other unresolved issues, which leave the agency clutching at straws.
“I am not resigning, but I remain committed to leading the Guam Department of Education and to work hard for our students, families and employees,” Judi Won Pat said in response to Sen. Chris Barnett’s Oct. 8 letter rating her performance “below average.”
In his five-page, hard-hitting letter, Barnett slammed Won Pat’s leadership, citing “backward priorities” and “bad decisions” that he said left the department stuck in a quagmire.
“I have no choice but to ask for your resignation, effective immediately,” Barnett said. “The island and the department
would be well served by new leadership with a new vision to lead our public school system in a new direction.”
Won Pat responded with a plea for a lifeline.
“We would, however, appreciate the senator’s help with the department. Support from the legislature is essential to addressing our needs,” she said in a brief press statement.
Won Pat is a former senator who chaired the education committee. In December 2025, she was appointed by the education board to head the government of Guam’s largest department, with an annual salary of $210,000, higher than the national average, which is $160,000.
When Won Pat took the hot seat, she inherited a chaotic department with perennial problems including deteriorating facilities, sanitation failures, school opening delays, staffing shortages and fiscal mismanagement.
The department's notorious audit records, which often flag wasteful purchases and questionable transactions, make the department a magnet for public scrutiny.
Barnett noted that no progress has been made in the department since the leadership turnover.
“A promise to end double sessions only doubled the number of double sessions,” he said, adding that major school decisions have been “mishandled” and “made in a vacuum, inconsiderate of real-life impacts to families.”
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The merger between Tiyan High School and Simon Sanchez High School is one of the key moves the department made this year.
The SSHS campus in Yigo was completely destroyed by Typhoon Mawar in 2023, prompting the department to relocate its students to John F. Kennedy High School in Tamuning, where both schools ran on a double-session schedule.
Won Pat earlier described the merger as the "least disruptive" option for ending double-session classes and migrating 2,300 students to regular classes.
Barnett, however, said the chaos resulting from Won Pat's decision to house Simon Sanchez High School at Tiyan High School "has disrupted the educational well-being of thousands of students."
"With the announcement of the merger in 2025, it is inexcusable that you didn’t do more to prepare for the complications your decision would
cause, especially since these logistical complications were in plain sight," he told Won Pat.
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Regarding the Tiyan facility, Barnett said GDOE documents indicated that the management team knew about the issues that would eventually lead to its closure when a self-inspection was conducted in January.
"The same repugnant odor of sewage cited in the self-inspection documents
had been confirmed by Tiyan High, Sanchez staff and students months before the Sharks started moving into the previously condemned buildings you decided to place them in," he said.
Barnett said Won Pat reneged on her promise to “restore trust in the department by being transparent and accountable” when she took the helm of the agency.
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