In his letter on Thursday, BOE member Herman T. Guerrero reminded Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, and Speaker Eli D. Cabrera, R-Saipan, about the lack of teacher representative since Ambrose Bennett resigned in Jan. 2008.
Guerrero also reiterated the board’s support for the education commissioner’s appeal to create a selection process for a teacher representative that the CNMI Constitution allows the Legislature to do, although the ultimate authority to appoint lies with the governor.
The following are the board’s suggestions:
• Hold a teacher organization election.
Guerrero said there had been teacher organizations in the CNMI in the past and there had been suggestions to allow teachers group to hold a general election for teacher representative.
But some of the considerations to keep in mind is how will the governor choose a nominee if there were more than one teacher organization in the islands.
The Legislature, Guerrero said, also has to determine who will coordinate the election for the organization. Will it be the Public School System, the governor’s office, the election commission or the teacher organization itself?
• Appointing the president of the teacher organization.
Guerrero said suggestions have been made in the last few years to have the president of the teachers group be the automatic nominee for teacher representative.
But some considerations to keep in mind, he said, is how the governor will choose the nominee.
“If there were more than one teacher’s organization in existence, will the governor have the ultimate discretion and have several options to choose from for an appointment?”
• Teacher of the year.
Guerrero said there is a “rigorous process” in selecting the CNMI teacher of the year. Every year, he said PSS selects a teacher of the year to represent the CNMI in the national level. Each individual school selects a school-level teacher of the year, and this is done by a vote from the entire school employee body.
Some of the criteria for a teacher of the year nominee, Guerrero said, is that the teacher must have a minimum of three years teaching experience in PSS and two years of teaching with the individual school.
The top five finalists then go through a rigorous selection process including observations of the teachers in the classrooms, interviews and credentials.
• Council of Teachers.
Another option, Guerrero said, is have the council of teachers from either of the islands appoint the teacher representative or have the Parent-Teacher-Student Association select him or her.
Some of the considerations that the lawmakers should keep in mind, he said, is the length of appointment and rotation of representative among the senatorial districts.
According to Guerrero, “the teacher representative is representation for the teachers within the entire system. Ideally, there should be no special consideration given to ‘islands’ but to the PSS system as a whole.”
