Dining Tiff May Delay School in Guam

The 33 public schools in Guam that closed for the first two days of the school year because of a dispute about the foodservice operator were finally open on Monday, August 31, after one of the companies in the dispute submitted the low bid for a temporary 30-day contract, reports the Pacific News Center.

The Guam Education Policy Board (GEPB) had voted to close 33 of the island's 41 public schools for at least two days at the start of the school year because there was no food service provider. The company that had won the bid, King’s Food Service, was disqualified after the attorney general refused to approve the contract because of questions about its legality and a challenge from losing bidder Sodexo. King's also was the company that won the temporary bid allowing the schools to reopen.

The schools could face another shutdown because an $8.4 million supplemental funding bill that would allow the foodservice department to complete the school year has yet to be approved.