JUST because past members of the Board of Education were doing it does not mean it is acceptable to donate federally funded professional development or PD allocations to organizations with which the donors are affiliated, said community activist and military veteran Fabian Indalecio.
He said he supports the decision of BOE member Andrew Orsini to release a “whistleblower” report on the donation of PD funds to non-profit organizations.
It is a “lame excuse” to say that it has been done by prior BOE members, Indalecio added.
He said BOE members cannot base their actions on past practices. “It is unacceptable, and even the court will question the intent of that,” he said. “Past mistakes don’t justify doing the same mistakes. This is a shame. Is that why past board members and past commissioners advocate for an amendment of the BOE quorum just to hush past errors? How do we know if past donations were not a form of corruption?” he asked.
He also wonders what the BOE’s legal counsel has to say about the issue.
Indalecio said either past federal programs officers didn’t know their job or there was conspiracy to cover up past mistakes and make it sound like it’s usual or normal practice.
“Huge dollars have been donated inappropriately,” he said, adding that this must be challenged, and somebody has to check if these donations really went to students, “because if it is really for the students, why not spend it for the Public School System?”
BOE members Gregory Borja and Maisie Tenorio donated PD funds to the Rotary Club of Saipan and the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence for programs and activities that benefited students and the youth.
They said they sought advice from the PSS legal counsel and the then-federal programs officer who told them that there were no legal or ethical issues as long as the donations had an educational purpose and would benefit students directly.
However, according to the new PSS federal programs officer, donating PD funds to organizations outside of the PSS was unallowable.
Since then, BOE Chairman Antonio L. Borja said, “we had discontinued this practice. All board members were made aware of this issue in September of 2022.”
Fabian Indalecio
