It should be noted that there was no “tag or flag” on the e-mail message stating the email belonged to PSS and there was no way for me to tell the e-mail addresses were from an exclusive PSS listing. There is also no policy that states an employee of PSS cannot e-mail other employees regarding political matters as the policy applies to school campuses. My message was sent outside of working hours, using my personal e-mail account in a reply to a spam message.
In response, I e-mailed an apology to the Commissioner and to the other people who pretended to be so upset about something so petty and trivial. Interestingly, one PSS employee replied to me with the following after receiving my apology: “Ambrose — Thanks for the response. No big deal. All those e-mail addresses below including mine are browser-based not (pss.cnmi.mp) PSS server-based. So technically, as far as PSS LAN usage issues are concerned, it was done in an indirect way, assuming you did not know that the browser-based e-mails in the spam you sent would be accessed through the PSS LAN. That’s my opinion anyway.”
I’m sure the general public is aware of my recent efforts to change and improve the governance system at PSS which I believe is the real motivation for the complaint making it to the news. Whenever accountability is placed on administrators, the Board and the PSS system there is usually some form of retaliation. The news article was nothing more than retaliation by the source — not the Commissioner. Retaliation is a real and genuine phenomenon affecting many CNMI teachers.
My mother taught me that two wrongs will never equal one right. PSS was wrong for not tagging or flagging their e-mail if it was strictly for PSS’s usage and I was wrong to send a reply to an unknown group of people. But I don’t blame the Commissioner for the news article because it appears the news article came from an unnamed third party source that had close access to the Commissioner. The message she sent to me was “personal and direct” with no CC. I don’t believe the Commissioner would have made this public without investigating it fully first — she is a smart lady. But PSS needs to ask and find out who within PSS or BOE is responsible. Whoever it was had to get their information from the Commissioner and it stinks that someone who is obviously a top administrator or BOE member can actually manipulate the Commissioner’s personal e-mail and expose the contents to the public. Find the culprit and that is the real news story about who deserves an insubordination charge.
This whole thing is an excellent example of the politics within education that I mentioned in a previous letter. I was dead right and years ahead of the Board and two different COEs about Praxis, Tinian’s principal and other PSS issues. I’m sure people with common sense who have kept up with me and education have a very good idea who instigated this mess. I believe it is really only one person playing dirty political games within the education system and I believe it is the same person who protected Tinian’s principal all these years. I guess they haven’t learned that what is done in the dark and behind closed doors will often to come to the light — it just takes time.
But the news article really made it clear that someone within our education system will take advantage of anything and anyone to harm my reputation. The unknown source of the article manipulated the media and the COE’s e-mail to me with the intent of giving the impression to the public that I was in trouble, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m sure people with common sense can see this for what it really was — just another fruitless smear attack. I haven’t been reprimanded by the Commissioner and clearly there is no justifiable reason for a reprimand. One people one direction for improved accountability within PSS — for TRUE!
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan
