The CNMI’s Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan is among the committee members.
They will solicit information from state and local educators, school officials, business leaders, state education agencies, parents, the community and others.
Together, they will compile the information to create a report that will outline educational needs across the various regions and recommend ways to effectively address those needs.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is expected to receive the report no later than Aug. 1, 2011.
The committees will assist the department in establishing priorities for the upcoming Comprehensive Centers Program grant competition in 2012.
The comprehensive centers provide technical assistance designed to help build the capacity of states to support their districts and schools in increasing student achievement.
The Pacific Advisory Committee is now under region 10: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
The other committee members are Pauline Camacho, Guam, Director, Guam Parent Information Resource Center; Spensin James, Micronesia, Faculty Member, College of Micronesia-FSM; Chairman of the Board of Education, Pohnpei State; Martha Kintol, Northern Marianas, Principal, Dandan Elementary School, Saipan; Mellanie Lee, Hawaii, Project Director/Education Specialist, Pacific and Hawai’i Daf-Blind Projects; Mary Okada, Guam, President, Guam Community College; Claire Poumele, American Samoa, Project Director, “Lumana’i Manuia mo Fanau” (A Bright Future for our Children); Denise and Uehara, Hawaii, Assistant Professor, Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawai’i at Maoa.
