Newly elected Board of Education Chairman Herman M. Atalig of Rota, right, confers with his predecessor, Antonio L. Borja of Tinian, during the BOE meeting on Capital Hill Friday.
(PSS) — The Board of Education, the policymaking and governing body of the Public School System, elected a new set of officers on Friday.
The most senior member, retired sergeant major and Vietnam War veteran Herman Manglona Atalig of Rota, was unanimously elected as new chair. Atalig succeeds Antonio L. Borja of Tinian.
All the five voting members also unanimously elected Saipan’s Maisie Bermudes Tenorio as vice chair. She succeeds Atalig.
Another Saipan member, Gregory Pat Borja, was reelected unanimously as secretary/treasurer.
“I am overwhelmed by my colleagues’ entrusting me with this great responsibility,” Atalig said. “I feel that with all your support, we will continue to be united…. And I strongly feel that if we continue to do that, we could move mountains.”
He added, “I definitely accept this responsibility and will do my very best … to continue to commit to helping our students. Our students will remain my priority — our priority.”
“Secondly,” he said, “since my military time, I’ve always been about taking care of you: our people. It is very, very important that [we continue] to support our staff and personnel, which is led by our new commissioner of education, Dr. Lawrence Camacho.”
BOE officers serve a one-year term.
Before the election of the new officers on Friday, then-Chairman Antonio L. Borja presided over the BOE regular meeting.
The election began with the nomination of candidates.
Atalig was nominated by Gregory Pat Borja for the chair’s position while Saipan member Andrew L. Orsini, nominated Tenorio for vice chair. In turn, Antonio L. Borja nominated Gregory Pat Borja for secretary/treasurer.
The BOE is a constitutionally created independent board of the CNMI government. It is composed of five elected and voting members and three non-voting members.
Currently, the three non-voting members are Teacher Representative Dr. Dora Borja Miura, Student Representative Jane Mozunder and Non-Public School Representative Dr. Ronald Snyder.
