I WASN’T through with the teacher rep issue but I had vowed to stay out of it in the best interest of teachers hoping the Association of Commonwealth Teachers could do something. But enough is enough. ACT performed a magical feat when it took over the “governance” of the teacher rep and ignored the CNMI Constitution. I’m sure ACT’s intentions were good and Mr. Franklin Keiper truly put his heart in the job but he was like a David against a Goliath without his sling shot. ACT has only been able to put on the appearance (smoke and mirrors) of true representation because it never addressed the real problem of the teacher rep’s ability to effectuate policy.
ACT didn’t want to work with me because I had more respect for all teachers and the governor than I had respect for ACT. ACT is and has always been a “special interest” group free to do as it pleases to promote teachers welfare in anyway they choose. But ACT has never qualified itself to represent all teachers. Not even a majority of teachers are members and that is why I had to part with ACT.
ACT has been more show with plenty of smoke and mirrors in the news, but the smoke is dissipating, the mirror is broken and teachers want and need real policies.
ACT took the lead by force and with extreme prejudice, disregarding the Board of Education and the governor. Now ACT is at the mercy of the governor they ignored because each governor has the prerogative of appointing his own teacher rep—a fact in the Constitution that ACT has boldly ignored and the proof is in their own made up by-laws. If you would check the real by-laws of the previous ACT you will not find one word on the teacher rep position because it was only a courtesy extended by the governor given to ACT to select someone for the teacher rep. I hope the governor slams the door in Rayphand’s face, and no disrespect to Ms. Merfalen, but there must be another election before anyone becomes the permanent teacher rep.
I will contact the governor myself to request a “directive” for policy that will address the next teacher rep election. The policy will simply be a “requirement” for each school to have a school rep and alternate. The collective group of school representatives will constitute the collective bargaining representative of teachers as stated in the Constitution. This group of teachers will truly represent all schools and all teachers with the ability to generate policy governing the election and functions of the teacher rep.
The big plus will be this: the teachers and the teacher rep will have the full support of the governor’s office, making for a much stronger voice on the Board of Education—a vital point ACT chose to ignore in its haste to take teachers “no where fast.”
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan
