The principals met with the board members on Friday to express their disappointment and frustration with BOE’s decision.
“The events that have led to the termination of our commissioner of education have left us confused and bewildered,” the principals said in a statement. “The teamwork and relationships we hoped to have built (with the board) seems to have been ignored and neglected. The message of being transparent has left us in the dark.”
According to the principals, BOE told them to “move on” for the sake of the children but they still feel that “the impact” of Borja’s termination “is doing more harm than good.”
“It is difficult for us to believe that we have shared leadership when we do not have a voice,” the principals stated. “We look to you [BOE] for the answers that try as we may, we cannot seem to arrive at. We hope that you will understand our need to feel validated especially at this time when our commissioner, who was our buffer, has been so incomprehensibly taken from us.”
Just as the board asks principals for documentation and justification for their decisions, “we ask you to reciprocate,” the principals stated.
BOE Chairwoman, Lucy Blanco-Maratita, in an interview after the over two-hour closed door meeting with the principals, said the board “stands by its decision and unless there’s anything in the future to rescind that decision, that’s the only time we may consider it — but as of now, we firmly stand by our decision.”
About 20 teachers wanted to join the meeting, but BOE said it was only for the board members and the principals.
BOE said it was not holding a special board meeting.
Blanco-Maratita said a special meeting will be called this week and will be open to the teachers and members of the public.
She said the principals wanted to know why Borja was terminated.
“We explained to them that personnel matters belong to an executive session and are exempted from the Open Government Act and that’s why we will not discuss the reasons for the decision that the board reached,” she said.
But Blanco-Maratita said they assured the principals that the recruitment of a new commissioner will begin immediately.
Borja’s replacement will be announced in August, in time for the school opening in September.
“We will make sure that we will follow the statutory requirement for the hiring of a commissioner because we’re bound by that requirement that a person must have a master’s degree at least in some field of education,” she said.
Blanco-Maratita said the board will not “micromanage” the Public School System.
“We don’t have time to micromanage and that’s something we don’t want to do,” she added. “Some people believe that when the board makes inquiries we’re meddling in operations — they have to remember that the board is also fully accountable for PSS.”
The principals’ representative, Rota High School’s Lynne Michael, said they did not get the specific response to their inquiries.
“We had the chance to discuss our questions and met with the board and show our support and concern because in our point of view as a group, we felt that Dr. Borja was doing a fine job at PSS,” she said. “We still don’t know why he was let go…but we felt that he is a fine leader and has been supportive of principals and focused on the schools.”
But she said they have no choice but to accept the board’s decision.
“What can we do? We just felt that it was sudden — there wasn’t any notice to people and we feel that some of these issues are ‘political,’ ” she said, but did not elaborate.
The commissioner serves at the pleasure of the board.
