Public School System officials led by Interim Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores met with Carolinian Affairs Office Executive Assistant Felix Nogis on Friday afternoon to discuss the hiring of bilingual classroom instructors. Also in photo are PSS Human Resources Officer Lucretia B. Deleon Guerrero, PSS program managers Asapmar Ogumoro and Vinnie Orsini, Carolinian curriculum writer Monica Pua and Jonas Barcinas, the former Chamorro Carolinian and Language and Heritage Studies program manager.
(PSS) — Interim Commissioner of Education Donna M. Flores and other Public School System officials met with Carolinian Affairs Office Executive Assistant Felix Nogis on Friday afternoon to discuss the hiring of five new Carolinian instructors.
PSS, with the support of the Board of Education, and CAO also agreed to work together toward the hiring of more bilingual teachers.
With Flores during the meeting were PSS Human Resource Officer Lucretia B. Deleon Guerrero. PSS program managers Asapmar Ogumoro and Vinnie Orsini, Carolinian curriculum writer Monica Pua and Jonas Barcinas, the former Chamorro Carolinian and Language and Heritage Studies program manager.
“Thank you for meeting with us,” Flores told Nogis. “With the support of our BOE Chairperson Antonio Borja and the entire BOE, and our central office team, we are here to meet with you to make good efforts in answering and finding ways to address our lack of bilingual teachers, both Carolinian and Chamorro,” Flores added.
“As you have been made aware by my predecessors, PSS has been earnestly working to ensure that we are able to address the lack of bilingual classroom instructors because of various reasons, primarily, among others, due to recruitment difficulties, minimum hiring requirements, and lack of local funding,” Flores said.
Nogis said “coming together is a positive sign.”
“Getting together and talking about finding a common ground on the issue is a positive sign,” he added.
New hires
Deleon Guerrero told Nogis that five new Carolinian instructors under an independent contract have been hired within the past month and were assigned to various public schools on Saipan.
Deleon Guerrero said they are optimistic PSS will soon have an adequate number of bilingual classroom instructors.
Flores said PSS will work with CAO and build on the “recommendations and advocacy” of Nogis.
“We at PSS truly admire your advocacy and focus on promoting Carolinian language instruction at schools” she told Nogis.
Under a professional service contract, the new Carolinian instructors will be provided with every professional growth opportunity given to all PSS classroom teachers. This includes professional development and training, and participation in the mentee and mentorship program.
“These opportunities will help build our local workforce,” Deleon Guerrero told Nogis.
Under local and federal statutes and guidelines, a PSS classroom teacher must have a minimum college degree.
To recruiting bilingual instructors, PSS, with the direction and support of the BOE, has adopted a “flexible” approach.
For many years now, PSS said despite its “aggressive” recruitment of local teachers, the mandated minimum requirements have hindered the hiring of Carolinian instructors. The basic requirements for a bilingual teacher include an employment application, a police clearance, a résumé, a high school diploma, and official transcript.
In 2017, the BOE approved PSS’s redesign of its instructional coaching program, which led to the review and assessment of hiring classroom teachers, including Carolinian and Chamorro bilingual instructors, to address the hiring difficulty/challenges.
Joint effort
Nogis, for his part, offered to assist PSS in lobbying for funding for the hiring of additional Chamorro and Carolinian Language and Heritage Studies instructors under a professional service contract developed by PSS.
PSS-Human Resources said the school system needs at least 30 bilingual instructors at the coast of $1.4 million in local funds.
PSS will prepare an updated budget proposal that it will share with the CAO, and both agencies will work together in seeking funding from the CNMI Legislature.
“We at PSS are being creative and proactive,” Flores told Nogis. “We welcome all help and support, especially from your office, in ensuring we are able to continually hire bilingual instructors and continue to provide adequate learning opportunities for our students.”
Nogis thanked Flores for reaching out. “At least I have the chance to express our frustration; there’s two-way communication now,” he added.
The two agreed to meet again this month and early next month to check on the progress of their joint work.
“This is big progress, a very big development,” Nogis said.
Flores agreed. “We are all advocates for our people,” she said. “We work as one Public School System. We are one community here, and this is the reason why we want to work with all of our stakeholders including and particularly the CAO.”
