Gov. Benigno R. Fitial on Wednesday last week signed into law Senate Local Bill 17-1 naming the Songsong school after the former education commissioner and chairwoman of the Northern Marianas College board of regents.
Inos was spearheading the revision of the Chamorro dictionary when she passed away on Aug. 10 last year. She was 55.
Introduced by Sen. Jovita M. Taimanao, S.L.B. 17-1, which is now Rota Local Law 17-6, aims to recognize and appreciate Inos’ “untiring and outstanding contributions to the Public School System and the people of the commonwealth.”
Recognizing education as an important factor for success, Inos dedicated most of her life to advocating education in the islands.
A graduate of liberal arts/ bilingual education of the University of Hawaii-Manoa, she served as a bilingual teacher on Rota and then at San Antonio and San Vicente Elementary Schools on Saipan in the early 1970s.
With Inos as commissioner of education from June 1998 to Dec. 2005, PSS demonstrated a seven-year trend of increasing student academic achievement through the establishment of a data driven student achievement plan as measured by the CNMI Standard Based Achievement Test and the Standard Achievement Test, 10th Edition.
She also led PSS to a standard-based curriculum and method of instruction and stringent graduation requirements for students in the core curriculum areas.
It was Inos who initiated an academic data-driven system in PSS, which enabled the CNMI to comply with federal standards.
Inos was appointed to the NMC board of regents in Feb. 2006, and served as its chairwoman from June 29, 2006 to July 18, 2008.
A native of Songsong, Rota she was married to Cristobal Songao Inos, and they had two children — Denise Lorraine and Ana Blossom.
