A PETITION calling for an “improved representation” of the Refaluwasch language in the Public School System’s language heritage program will be circulated soon, Carolinian Affairs Office Executive Assistant Felix Nogis said.
He said he has met with PSS Chamorro & Carolinian Language Heritage Studies Program Director Jonas Barcinas to reiterate his request to suspend the 24 college credits requirement when hiring Carolinian language teachers.
Nogis also brought up the idea of waiving the Praxis test requirement for bilingual Chamorro and Carolinian teachers, and developing a Carolinian language certification program for those who want to teach the local language in schools.
Nogis said these measures will help close the gap between the number of Chamorro and Carolinian language teachers. Citing the figures he obtained from PSS, the he said there are 46 teachers Chamorro language teachers but only five Refaluwasch or Carolinian language teachers.
PSS said it has been addressing the lack of Carolinian teachers and has reached out to the CAO to assist in recruiting Carolinians to teach the local language in schools. However, PSS said, there is a lack of interested qualified applicants.
But Nogis said there is an adequate number of Carolinians who want to teach the local language in PSS but they cannot meet the 24 college credits requirement. Some of them have also not taken the Praxis tests, he added.
That is why the CAO has asked PSS to suspend the 24 college credits requirement and waive the Praxis test, he said.
Nogis said even after a lengthy discussion with PSS officials, “it doesn’t look like they acted on these requests.”
“What happened to the Student First motto when it comes to Carolinian children?” Nogis asked.
According to the petition, “the indigenous Refaluwasch community, in great faith, believes that the PSS officials’ decision to address their concern will effectively live up to the values of leadership, learning, engagement, diversity and relationships.”
The petition also said that parents should be allowed to select the language they want their children to study.
The Board of Education, for its part, should review the current bilingual requirements to make them appropriate and doable, and to hire a Carolinian program manager and curriculum writers who “speak and write Carolinian fluently and possess proper knowledge of the language and heritage,” the petition stated.
It added that a bilingual program should also be available at Head Start centers, and that a bilingual curriculum for students from K to Grade 12 should be developed and implemented.
