A “WHISTLEBLOWER” is requesting the Office of the Public Auditor to investigate two Board of Education members — Gregory Borja and Maisie B. Tenorio — for possible corruption when they donated their professional development funds to community organizations they are affiliated with.
Each BOE member’s professional development account is federally funded.
Two memoranda attached to the whistleblower complaint indicated that BOE member Gregory Borja made donations to Rotary Club of Saipan of which he is a member.
According to the whistleblower, such donations are impermissible under Title 2 Section 200.434 of the federal rules on grants and agreements.
A memo dated Sept. 8, 2021 stated that “as the end of fiscal year 2020-2021 approaches fast, member Gregory Borja would like to donate his PD funds to: Rotary Club of Saipan. With the PD (professional development) balance of $6,373 please kindly issue a check made payable to the Rotary Club of Saipan. Thank you for your time and we look forward to the check donation.”
The memo was addressed to then-BOE Chairman Andrew Orsini and was concurred by Borja himself.
In another memo dated Aug. 18, 2022, Borja donated his $12,000 professional development fund to the Rotary Club of Saipan. This time, the memo was addressed to the interim federal programs officer and director of finance, and was concurred by Borja himself.
Attached to the whistleblower complaint is a copy of the $12,000 check payable to Rotary Club of Saipan.
According to the complaint, “Greg Borja may have abused his authority as chairman of the BOE by awarding [an] affiliated organization, the Rotary Club of Saipan, [of] which he is now a high-ranking club officer, with [a] $12,000 check from his Board of Education PD account.”
The whistleblower also submitted a memo, dated March 3, 2022, addressed to the federal programs officer through then-acting BOE chairman, Antonio L. Borja, for a “donation of funds for the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence.”
The donation memo states, “In support of the ‘Know Your Worth’ competition, hosted by the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, Madam Secretary/Treasurer Maisie B. Tenorio would like to donate $3,000.”
Also attached to whistleblower complaint was the $3,000 check payable to the coalition.
The whistleblower said Tenorio may have abused her authority by making a $3,000 donation to the organization of which she is the executive director and administrator.
Unaware
In an email interview on Tuesday, Borja said, “Yes, I did donate $12,000 in FY22 to the Rotary Club. I also donated $6,000 in FY 21.”
The funds, he said, went to the Interact Clubs of Marianas High School, Kagman High School, and Southern High School, along with Saipan International School. The Interact Clubs, he added, used the funds to conduct community service projects, such as adopting a bus shelter.
“When I made such donations, I was unaware that the action was unallowable. Once we discovered that this practice of board members donating to community organizations was unallowable, we stop[ped] members from taking such actions,” Borja said.
He added, however, that BOE has one member who, despite knowing that such donations are unallowable, “continues to request that they should be able to donate also.” He did not identify the BOE member.
Borja, who is the Rotary Club of Saipan’s director for youth services, noted that such donations were also done by past board members.
For his part, Antonio L. Borja, who represents Tinian on the BOE, said: “I did sign the memo for the approval of Member Tenorio’s PD donation to the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, while I was the Acting Board Chairman on March 3, 2022. I signed it knowing that the coalition is there to protect our community which includes our students.”
Antonio Borja said as a new board member, it was explained to him that he was able to donate any unspent PD funds to any organization that had an educational purpose.
This matter, he said, was made clear by legal counsel and the federal programs director at the time.
But after a new federal programs director was hired, he said, “it was discovered, towards the end of the fiscal year 2022, that donating our PD funds to organizations outside of [the Public School System] was unallowable, and since then we had discontinued this practice. All board members were made aware of this issue in September of 2022. “
He added, “I approved member Tenorio’s donation memo in March of 2022 before any of us had any knowledge of the issue. After we were made aware of the issue I went ahead and donated my remaining PD funds to both Tinian Elementary School and Tinian High School for the students, which was my initial intention.”
Asked for comment, BOE Secretary-Treasurer Maisie B. Tenorio issued the following statement:
“Upon joining the Board it was explained to me that I can donate my unspent Professional Development (PD) funds to any organization that had an educational purpose. I immediately thought of the Know Your Worth Competition, which is part of the Coalition’s Teen Dating Violence Month campaign. In 2022, the Know Your Worth competition aimed to increase awareness about teen dating violence through an art, essay, and spoken word competition. We hoped that the competition would give students an outlet to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas about such an important topic that impacts their population. We were ecstatic to receive over 100 artworks, 21 essays, and 19 spoken word performances from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota middle school and high school students. We awarded cash prizes for the top three winners for each category in both divisions. That’s a total of 18 cash prizes!
“Prior to requesting the transfer of PD funds for the benefit of this worthwhile event, I sought advice from the PSS Legal Counsel and the Federal Programs Director. I was advised that there were no legal or ethical issues and that the Know Your Worth competition would certainly provide an educational purpose and benefit students directly. Also, I was excited about this opportunity that I openly shared it with the planning committee and others.
“However, upon the hiring of a new Federal Programs Director, it was brought to my attention that it was impermissible to donate these funds unless they remained within PSS. Once I was made aware of this I immediately ceased any request to donate funds outside of PSS.
“My request to transfer unspent PD funds was made with the utmost desire and intent to benefit our students and our community.”
‘They didn’t want to listen’
BOE member Andrew Orsini said the whistleblower’s complaint was one of the matters he and board member Herman Atalig of Rota wanted to bring up with their fellow board members in an executive or closed door session, “but they did not want to listen.”
Gregory Borja, for his part, said he didn’t see why they had to discuss things behind closed doors. He insisted on an open forum “so that the community knows what we are doing.”
“So Greg, now knowing it isn’t allowable to donate monies outside of PSS, is he and Maisie going to retrieve their donations or are they both going to repay it back on their own?” Orsini asked.
He said PSS should not be penalized and lose federal grant money “because of their own irresponsibility.”
Orsini added, “I want to thank the whistleblower for bringing this out in the open as a complaint. I would like to know what the grantor, the U.S. Department of Education, [has] to say about this. I am very surprised at this outcome. At the expense of our ‘students first,’ they both do their own self-interest first?”
Andrew Orsini
