The regents should choose a person who is most qualified, she said, adding that Fernandez was selected because of political pressure.
McPhetres said she was then the chair of the selection committee.
“She didn’t make it to the selection committee. She didn’t make it to the top five,” she said, referring to Fernandez, a former Guam senator.
McPhetres said when she heard that Fernandez was considered for interview, she had a discussion with Dr. Rita Inos, then the chairwoman of the board, about Fernandez’s qualifications.
She said Fernandez barely met the administrative experience requirement.
“The people we interviewed from where she previously worked were all negative about her,” she added.
McPhetres said the board and not just one person should hire the new president.
The hiring body is the board not the chair, she added.
She said the board should agree to the terms of the new president’s contract.
She was told that Fernandez wrote her own contract and it was not submitted to the board for review.
It is only fair for the regents to terminate Fernandez, McPhetres said.
“I can understand the process because the president should serve at the pleasure of the board,” she added.
McPhetres said she was very concerned at that time.
“I became the bad person because I was trying to turn wrong into right,” she added.
She wants the current board to move on and start addressing a lot of issues in the college.
“With the budget cut I think the board has to focus and cutback a lot of the administrators,” she said.
She said there are too many administrators at NMC.
The board should put emphasis on instruction because since Fernandez became president, the numbers of teachers has decreased while the number of administrators increased, she said.
The NMC president from 1981 to 1999, McPhetres was appointed a regent in Feb. 2008 but she resigned in March 2009 after clashing with then-NMC President Fernandez who was hired by the board in April 2007.
Fernandez’s contract was renewed for four years in May 2009. Last January, however, she was suspended on the allegation that she changed the grades of certain students. Three months later, the regents voted to fire her.
