THE new board of trustees “regretfully” reported to the governor’s office and the Legislature that the reports submitted by the Northern Marianas Trades Institute transition committee “are missing vital information” so the new board, its advisors and government agencies are taking over to complete the process.
The new board members are appointed by the governor.
From a private nonprofit trade school, NMTI became a public corporation known as the Northern Marianas Technical Institute with the enactment of Public Law 20-92 in February 2019.
The 180-day deadline to complete a transition plan for NMTI was on Feb. 12.
In his letter to the administration and the Legislature, the new board chairman, Mario F. Valentino, said there was some disagreement from a few members of the transition committee regarding the interpretation of Public Law 20-92.
He said the attorney general has issued a clarification on the public law, but one committee member commented, “since all legal opinions from the AG’s office are quite vague,” the NMTI chief executive officer, Agnes M. McPhetres, recommended to follow the author of the public law, Senate Vice President Justo S. Quitugua.
Valentino said Quitugua’s clarification “was exactly what the law stated, and most of the committee understood it.”
He said the transition committee tried very hard and made great progress to complete a transition plan.
“However, it will be submitted incomplete and the board of trustees, advisors, and government agencies can help the transition come to completion,” Valentino said.
The transition committee is composed of three different subcommittees — audit and finance, property, and assets.
“I would like to acknowledge all the transition committee members who participated in this very important process,” Valentino said. “We have many caring and dedicated individuals that worked diligently to come up with an appropriate plan. Regretfully, the subcommittee reports submitted are missing vital information and must be fulfilled before transition can be executed.”
He said, “Several committee members made recommendations that due to the 180-day deadline, the board of trustees, in conjunction with advisors and government agencies, take over the responsibility to complete the process.”
In an interview, House Committee on Education Chairwoman Leila Staffler said her committee plans to meet with the board of trustees “to get a full update moving forward.”
Last week, in a meeting with the House committee members at NMTI, McPhetres said due to a “lack of smooth transition,” she and the rest of the staff, including the instructors, were basically jobless.
But Variety learned that the instructors will be retained by the new board.
While Northern Marianas Technical Institute Chief Executive Officer Agnes M. McPhetres, left, listens, NMTI Board of Trustees Chairman Mario Valentino speaks during a meeting with members of the House Education Committee last week in an NMTI classroom.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
