THE Board of Education on Thursday voted to lift the Public School System’s suspension of off-island travel.
Present during the BOE meeting were Chairman Andrew Orsini, vice chairman Herman Atalig, and members Gregory P. Borja and Antonio L. Borja.
Atalig said he was not comfortable lifting the travel suspension except for travel that is necessary.
He said it would be premature to lift the suspension, adding that over the last four years, compliance with the travel rules among education officials and staff “had been very bad.”
Atalig said, “There should be some kind of control over off-island travels.”
But he said he would vote yes on the condition that there should be a bimonthly report indicating “who traveled, where and for what.”
Also, he added, “we need to identify who really needs to travel.”
The BOE members at the same time recognized that PSS officials, teachers, principals and staff need to attend necessary off-island training programs and conferences.
Most of these are federally funded and are necessary for the implementation of federally funded programs.
It was reported in March that PSS would receive $160 million from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This was in addition to the $61 million in federal funds it received in January.
