The problem is the bad principals have been able to survive for over a decade because the governance system of PSS is not really a governance system and that is what every parent with a child attending school should be concerned about. Parents really need to get some answers to these critical questions, which I know but it is better if you find out for yourself. How do we (parents) know a principal is doing a good job? Who evaluates a principal and how is the principal evaluated? What kind of checks & balance are placed on principals and their decisions? Why are the only formal reports about the schools being submitted only by the principal — is the principal really going to say she/he is doing a bad job? There are more but this should be enough to make you say hummmm!
Kudos to the Commissioner for having the political will and fortitude to do the right thing and for those of you who don’t think that politics breaches the autonomy of PSS this should have been an eye opener for you. It is almost common knowledge among most veteran educators in the CNMI that the only reason Tinian’s principal had manage to keep her job was only because of her political clout. But politics runs even deeper within the confines of our educational system and I will tell you about that at a later day and at the appropriate time. But I will say there are at least three more principals who have literally done some of the same things as the Tinian principal when it comes to the treatment of employees. But I can assure the general public that it is just a matter of time for them now that it is obvious accountability over principals needs to be improved. Just because a school is accredited it doesn’t mean the school has a good principal because bad things at schools in the CNMI are never exposed to WASC out of pure unadulterated fear. The penalty for exposing problems and holding principals accountable is non-renewal of your contract without cause. This is how the principal on Tinian was able to survive for so many years because any teacher or staff who posed a check on her decisions or actions was simply eliminated and parents were just simply ignored until they gave up.
Just imagine if those parents on Tinian had decided not to fight for their child — yes, you are thinking the same thing everyone with common sense is thinking, it would still be going on with no end in sight like it has been since she first took over because there were no real checks & balance. The parents on Tinian represented the very essence of a lesson that I teach about the two keys that are needed to get our government to do the right thing — informed & active citizens. The Federalist believed that if every citizen was informed and active that our government would remain under a constant and vigilant check by the citizens. Those informed and active parents on Tinian place a vital check on the principal that the commissioner had to balance fairly which proved the point the founders of America were making in the Federalist Papers. We need more informed and active parents to be more involved in the inner workings of our educational system and more importantly we need a complete governance system for the Public Education System because it obvious common sense that the Commissioner can’t police the entire system.
I just wonder how many “I told you soooos” will I have to say before PSS really starts to listen the FIRST time before it gets all ugly. Kudos to the parents, your children can be very proud of you and I am so thankful that you acknowledge the problem with your principal has been ongoing for years just like I wrote in my letters to the editor a year or so ago. You have performed a valuable public service by standing up and doing something to get the entire student body and staff some due process and some long over due relief. The principles of governance dictate that whenever accountability checks are applied properly under fair conditions with the intent to find the truth or what works best, the results will always be favorable to the system or organization and those affected by the decision or act — guess who said that (esorbmA ttenneB).
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan
