I guess they didn’t realize that I was ahead of the times on their representation and a lot of other things in the CNMI, which is why I keep saying “I told you so.” The fact that so many teachers are now going to lose their job and this fiasco with teachers and Mr. Garrison is something I forewarned teachers about but they didn’t listen.
While, I have not always agreed with Mr. Garrison, I do know for a fact that he is more than qualified, he cares about the school system and he cares about the welfare of our children, which are my paramount concerns. I also know for a fact that Mr. Garrison is definitely putting MHS on a better course for improvements by raising the expectations at MHS. While the concerns of teachers may be of some validity, I’m sure it is more about HOW he got rid of these teachers than the reason-let’s just say I know his personality. But teachers have known since I was the Teacher Rep. that the expectations have risen and that they must be able to perform at the new level of else — so it IS NOT a surprise to see Mr. Garrison raise the bar of expectations at MHS.
In fact, Mr. James Yangetmai was the ring leader of the ACT group that was working with certain BOE officials to try their best to get rid of me and ruined teachers chances to have a real seat with power on the Board. So it is not surprising to see Yangetmai reap what he has sown as I find it as being poetic justice because God is in this and everything we do. Even though ACT kept me from accomplishing my goal for teachers I remained professional and left my vengeance up to God — he just delivered in grand style, THANK YOU Lord! I say this because I can clearly remember Yangetmai making a promise to me and then Governor Babauta to unite teachers if he lost so teachers could get their collective bargaining rights but instead Yangetmai and BOE officials did everything they could to assassinate my character and kill my attempts to help teachers — the sad part for teachers is they were successful.
Mr.Yangetmai should have learned a long time ago that PSS is autonomous and taking his complaints to the Legislature was futile. Only the Governor can influence education through the Teacher Representative that is appointed by the Governor and there hasn’t been a Teacher Rep since I refused to run again because I was simply tired of trying to help people that didn’t want to be helped and I KNEW the present Governor wasn’t going to do anything — now look, teachers don’t even have a Rep on the Board. It should be duly noted that since my employment with PSS started in 1992, Governor Babauta is the TRUE champion of education and he was the ONLY elected official to truly try and help teachers. He is also the reason our school system is autonomous and protected from the Legislature, the Governor and politics. Hopefully, the next Governor will take a page from Governor Babauta’s play book when it comes to education.
As for taking a complaint about the School System to the Legislature it is really a waste of time unless it’s about changing the law — where is his ACT group now when he needs them? What got me was that PSS officials were even smarter by not coming to the Public Hearing, which would have only given the complaint more credibility and made matters worse. Even though I don’t agree with all the methodologies, I can tell the Commissioner and Principals are doing all they can to improve the quality of education and there will be casualties that might have been avoided to a large extent but there will always be casualties or some form of cost for improvements — philosophically, nothing is FREE and everything comes at a cost!
The only real solution for teachers is to lay claim on your U.S. Constitutional Right to bargain and forget all the other stuff, it is a waste of time — been there & done that at the highest level in CNMI education. ONE DAY, teachers and a lot of other people are going to come to the realization I wish I would have listened to Mr. Bennett because I TOLD YOU SOOOOO!!!! One people one direction.
Post Script: I can also promise readers that ONE DAY I will also be able to tell the Board of Education “I Told You SO” as teachers still don’t have a Teacher Rep and their rights have even been taken out of the CNMI’s Constitution but THANK GOD there are Federal Laws that still guarantee teachers their rights to “bargain” with the CNMI Public School Systems. CNMI teachers are the ONLY teachers in America that are not exercising their right to bargain thanks to Mr. Yangetmai and ACT but you can be assured that One Day teachers are going to claim this right, which is why I sing the song — “Time is on My Side” yes it is, when it comes to proving my point and shutting up the mouths of my critics!!!
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Former BOE Teacher Rep.
