NMTI: Don’t kill the goose

Agnes McPhetres, CEO of the Northern Marianas Technical Institute, solicited support for House Bill 18-204 during Wednesday’s membership meeting of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, saying it will enable NMTI to become an adult vocational and continuing education charter school.

Another component of the bill is to create a Higher Education Commission that will act as a governing body for the CNMI’s only postsecondary education institution, the Northern Marianas College, and the potential second one, NMTI.

McPhetres

She sold NMTI as one of the legs to complete the current educational system in the CNMI, noting the Public School System and NMC as the other parts of this “table” as she put it.

She said the CNMI has good elementary, secondary, and college in place but there is no institution that addresses the needs of the workforce directly, stressing that NMTI will be the one to do so as a charter school.

“I can see an opportunity that we can really expand the human resource development in the CNMI that all of us has been yearning for,” she said.

The charter school, according to her, is a combination of both public and private concepts, as it will become a “quasi-public school” with opportunities for federal funds.

“The concept of the charter school is a community school,” she said, adding that in this case the community has more say.

‘Misunderstood’
McPhetres also clarified perceptions that NMTI is out to siphon funds that are intended for PSS and NMC.

“I’m not here to sell a program. I’m here to say here’s an opportunity for us here that will address what is lacking in our educational system. The major thing that I’ve been hearing is, ‘Here comes McPhetres again to take money from us,’ she said, denying this.

She pointed to CW funds as a hopeful source of funding.

“What we are trying to do is, we have a mission to fulfill and there’s money, CW money, coming here that is not supposed to be used for the operations of the public schools system nor the college but will be used for a purpose. I am just asking for a little of that,” she said.

In an interview, Vic Cepeda, education director of NMTI, clarified that—as he and NMTI understand—CW funds were originally intended to be used to train the local U.S. workforce.

“That money is supposed to be for people that [have] no jobs. …Just like those people in the NAP program, we can train them and we can put them to work,” he said, noting that NMTI has over 150 students who have gone into the workforce.

He said NMTI wants a “good portion” of the CW money for its services but is not asking for all of it.

McPhetres also stressed that the Higher Education Commission as a governing body will add accountability, and expects NMTI to be assessed on how it is meeting its mission.

“It will also ask NMC, ‘Are you producing what you said you’re going to produce?” she said.

On NMTI becoming a charter school, she said it might not be popular for many traditional educators because it challenges the status quo. However, she urged the crowd to “face the challenge” of meeting workforce needs.

“Do not kill the goose that may lay the golden eggs that will solve our problem,” she said, noting that NMTI’s promised output of more electricians, plumbers, and carpenters for the workforce.

“Will this school solve all our needs? No. It will solve a lot of the problems we are facing now,” she said.