(PSS) — Government officials and businesspersons joined the Public School System and student leaders in the first Strategic Planning Institute at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan on Monday.
The institute is a four-day event that aims to help high school graduates pursue a college education or a career and boost the CNMI workforce.
Close to about 200 participants attended the institute’s first day. They included school administrators, educators, parent and youth leaders.
Commissioner of Education Dr. Lawrence F. Camacho initiated the Strategic Planning Institute.
The overall facilitator of the four-day event is Dr. Allison Layland, chief education strategist of the Academic Development Institute and the U.S. Department of Education’s Region 18 Comprehensive Center.
Commissioner Camacho and Special Education State Director Donna M. Flores were the facilitators of the morning and afternoon panel discussions.
“The [Strategic Planning Institute] is here to help us establish and realign our goals and direction. It is an opportunity for us to look beyond who we are today as one community,” Commissioner of Education Camacho said.
“We are glad that all of our partners are here to help us re-imagine and re-structure PSS’ focus to reflect and align the government and private sector’s programs towards education and workforce development,” he added.
“With the current structure that we have in the CNMI, we need alignment,” PSS-Career and Technical Education Program Director Dr. Jessica Taylor said. “We have opportunities for everyone,” she added.
“We are here to put together…the priorities that are being shared with us by each government department and the private sector,” Flores said. “We want to incorporate that into our long-term plan. We hope to achieve this through Commissioner Camacho’s initiative of bringing all our stakeholders together,” she added.
Morning session
The morning session panelists were Saipan Chamber of Commerce board member Alex Sablan, House Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Department of Labor’s Director of Employment Services Eugene Tebuteb, Department of Labor-Workforce Investment Agency Director Frances Torres, Youth Congress Speaker Vinnie Juan Sablan, and Cathy A. Toves, Tan Holdings Corp. vice president of corporate affairs.
In the afternoon, the panelists were University of Guam’s Senior Vice President and Provost Dr. Sharleen Santos-Bamba, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna, Northern Marianas Technical Institute Chief Executive Officer Jodina Attao, Northern Marianas College executive director to the president Kevin Bautista, Youth Sen. Ayden Yumul, State Parent Advisory Council Vice President Rodney Cabarles, Dr. Layland, and Alex Sablan of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker Villagomez said PSS data will guide the lawmakers in providing the school system with its funding needs.
“It’s good that there’s a program in PSS that talks about collecting data and that their decisions are guided by data and not by anything else. That helps us in the Legislature make a good decision. I congratulate PSS for that,” the House speaker said.
DOL’s Employment Services Director Tebuteb said: “We work with data every day. We see a trend in the workforce. We understand that in the last 20 years there are particular industries that are the most in demand: construction, installation and repair, food preparation, etc. With the data of PSS, what I would like to see is a better collaboration with the Department of Labor. We need to champion workforce development,” he added.
He noted that the CW-1 visa program for foreign workers in the CNMI will end on Dec. 31, 2029 unless the federal government extends it.
“We are not sure if it will continue. If our business community demands certain skills, then we have to prepare our children for that. And I want our students to be college and career ready.”
DOL’s Workforce Investment Director Torres said: “One takeaway for us here is alignment — aligning our system to effectuate systems that we need to implement so we can move forward despite the many challenges we see in our community and our economy. There will always be opportunity for all of us.”
Alex Sablan, who is also Tan Holdings’ vice president for corporate business development, said there is a need to focus on the workforce needs of the CNMI.
“PSS and NMC have done a phenomenal job in transitioning their students to college and career readiness. Parents have to be involved more…. We have to collectively find a way to make it happen,” Sablan said.
“We also have to look at academies that will help students who need help, and look at homes that need help. We are going to be challenged over the course of the next decade,” he said referring to artificial intelligence and its impact on businesses and the workforce.
For his part, Youth Congress Speaker Sablan praised PSS for the “opportunities it provides to all students in both public and private schools.”
Commissioner of Education Dr. Lawrence F. Camacho, standing second left, was the lead convenor of the first Strategic Planning Institute of the Public School System at Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan on Monday. Joining Camacho as co-facilitator in the morning and afternoon panel discussions is Special Education State Director Donna M. Flores. The panelists included University of Guam’s Senior Vice President and Provost Dr. Sharleen Santos-Bamba, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna, Northern Marianas Technical Institute Chief Executive Officer Jodina Attao, Northern Marianas College executive director to the president Kevin Bautista, Youth Sen. Ayden Yumul, State Parent Advisory Council Vice President Rodney Cabarles, Allison Layland of Region 18 Comprehensive Center, and Saipan Chamber of Commerce board member Alex Sablan.
