‘Don’t substitute PSS’ grievance procedure with hearings’

Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan appealed yesterday to members of the House Committee on Education not to substitute the Public School System’s grievance procedures with legislative hearings.

Instead, if lawmakers really want to give teachers a voice in decision-making for public schools, they must start drafting legislation that will appoint a new teachers’ representative to the Board of Education, Sablan said.

Lawmakers have scheduled two hearings to address accusations of abuse of authority and unlawful termination of long-term teachers at Marianas High School, lodged against the school’s principal, Craig Garrison.

“If this committee is truly concerned with safeguarding the rights of teachers within PSS, I would encourage them to draft the long-needed legislation to appoint a teacher representative to BOE. I would submit to the committee that appointing a teacher rep would do much more good for the rights of teachers in the CNMI than attempting to substitute the employee grievance procedures at PSS with legislative hearings,” Sablan told the panel during the more than two-hour hearing yesterday at the House chamber.

The teacher representative position has been vacant since Ambrose Bennett’s term expired in January 2008.

Yesterday’s hearing was the second conducted by the panel after education officials failed to show up at the first one.

Sablan said the situation at MHS was in large part addressed in the arena of public opinion, with little or no respect paid to the formal grievance procedures that are part of the regulations that govern PSS.

She claimed that “incomplete and inaccurate” reporting of facts surrounding MHS issues exacerbated the situation and caused a great deal of confusion and misinformation, which were taken as truth.

Sablan claimed they didn’t snub the first hearing because she provided the panel written testimony and was busy with graduation preparations. She also assured that PSS did not “stand on the side as a spectator” in the MHS situation, but rather acted in accordance with regulations.

As early as 5am during the first day of protest, Sablan said she was in communication with Garrison and had consulted the system’s legal counsel and administrative team to ensure that all MHS students had a teacher present.

At the same time, she said she contacted Department of Public Safety to ensure that whatever form James Yangetmai’s protest took, the students would be allowed to continue with their studies uninterrupted.

On the second day of the protest, the COE claimed they reviewed the policies and procedures regarding teacher absences. Yangetmai was even encouraged by PSS federal programs officer Tim Thornburgh to formally file a grievance, to no avail.

Therefore, she said she cannot address any specific allegations that have been raised by Yangetmai or any other persons who have testified before the committee.

“I cannot, and will not, break the rules,” she added.