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NMTI committee pushes e-records for school
The Record Committee of the Northern Marianas Trades Institute wants to improve the way it conducts business by not only having physical reports but electronic ones as well, to avoid not having access to those records.
In an interview with NMTI chief executive officer Agnes McPhetres, the trade school’s administration is having a hard time retrieving records because the people who do have access to them have been furloughed and there has been a limited number of employees who have volunteered to work prior to NMTI reopening last Jan. 4.
“It was really trying times, and they were trying to get all the information when nobody was here at NMTI except for me. …Very unfortunate that we were not as accessible as [the students] wanted us to be,” said McPhetres. “It’s very comprehensive funding an educational institution. It is not just like a department that they only look at the day-to-day operation. This covers from budget to classes to all kinds of stuff so, it’s different management.”
NMTI Record Committee co-chair Tyrell Pauling said his main concern is the record-keeping procedures of the institution.
Pauling said that having electronic records will be extremely helpful when loading records and easier to locate when they are needed. He recommended that they also have a shared server for the administration, which will be easily managed by NMTI.
NMTI board member Mario Valentino pointed out that it isn’t the employees’ fault that the NMTI administration couldn’t obtain records. “Please understand that the committee does not seek to blame anyone. However, broadly, there was a sense that we were presenting an incomplete report, and it was important to state that it wasn›t late,” said Valentino.
NMTI officially issued furlough letters to the majority of their staff last April 17, 2020, due to their inability to sustain payroll payments as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
NMTI has a little over 20 employees.
