By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

ONE of the five voting members of the Board of Education wants “new faces” on the BOE.
Former Rep. Herman T. Guerrero said three BOE seats are up for grabs in November, and is encouraging individuals with a concern for and commitment to students to run.
In the 2005 elections, Guerrero won a second term which ends in Jan. 2010.
“I want to serve the remainder of this term because eight years for me is enough…so I want to leave responsible individuals on the board who are committed to improving education,” he said.
Roman C. Benavente, Dino M. Jones and Marja Lee Taitano are the three BOE members whose seats will be contested in this year’s elections.
The three form the majority bloc on the board.
Without naming names, Guerrero said board members who have yet to show major accomplishments for students should reconsider their decision to run again.
“If they (run again and win) they will just continue hurting the kids more than they know. I would like to have board members who are active and perhaps more interested in ensuring that we move ahead in improving the learning of students in schools and by improving them…this means better scores in our locally developed self-assessment and SAT-10 tests,” Guerrero said.
The board, for example, should work on an alternative program for the secondary level.
“Do you think we are providing enough alternative programs such as vocational and technical courses so the students can be prepared to be gainfully employed if they do not desire to go to college? That’s an important concern that (the Public School System) and BOE must address,” he said.
PSS should also revisit its own mission, Guerrero said.
“PSS needs to re-assess itself to know where it needs to go in terms of educating CNMI children,” he added.
Guerrero said although some data from the schools show a certain measure of “progress,” there are still concerns that need to be addressed.
“There’s a need for more improvement,” he said. “What we want is a management style that works with people and does not dictate to them. I find it very bad that principals are being reprimanded when they should be given authority to run their own campuses.”
Guerrero said transparency should also be observed by the PSS leadership.
He said he intends to remain vocal about the need for transparency in the school system and on the board.