TEACHER representative Franklin Keiper says public school teachers should be asked about their opinion of Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos’s performance.
Keiper said getting the teachers’ opinion would present “a more accurate picture.”
He said he raised the issue during the Board of Education meeting last week, but was outvoted.
Scott Norman, the representative of private school teachers to BOE and chairman of the evaluation committee, said all teachers and other members of the community, including lawmakers, can submit their comments to the board.
“This is optional. Whoever wants to register his or her opinion can send it to BOE,” Norman said.
Keiper said he agrees with House Education Committee Chairman Daniel Quitugua who earlier proposed that BOE form a “neutral” committee that would evaluate the commissioner.
Quitugua, R-Rota, said two BOE members, Marja Lee Taitano and Esther Fleming, should “excuse” themselves from the committee “to avoid suspicion” that they would favor the commissioner.
“There should be an independent committee to evaluate the commissioner. You can’t expect (Taitano and Fleming) to go against the commissioner. They’re very good friends. They travel together, stay in the same hotel, etc. You can see that they have a conflict of interest in this issue,” Keiper said.
It was BOE Chairman Herman T. Guerrero who formed the committee to evaluate the commissioner.
The members of the committee are Scott, Taitano, Fleming and student representative Tracy Lyn Del Rosario.
Last week, the committee recommended a survey conducted among school principals on Inos’s performance. BOE approved the committee’s recommendation.
Inos’s four-year contract expires on May 31.
