You were right about PSS, Remi

By AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Special to the Saipan Tribune

I just want Remi Sablan to know that people should be happy and thank her for holding education officials accountable. She was worried about someone getting mad at her but I want her to know that she is indeed appreciated and that I got her back. Her letter on PSS’ waste was informative and revealing as there were some things that I was also questioning. I want to thank her and encourage her and other stakeholders in our education system to start speaking up and holding education officials accountable or there will be no accountability and we all know what that means-waste and even worse, as Remi stated.

But I must be fair as some of the things stated in her letter were not waste but necessary improvements that were the results of ARRA funding, which was meant for our Public School System to improve the “infrastructure and purchase collateral equipment.” Things like the new TVs and chairs were really needed as I can remember being a board member sitting in a hard folding chair all day in some meetings and it was not nice because I don’t have a lot of meat to sit on-you dig. Technology also needed to be updated and the infrastructure improvements were definitely needed. So we have to give PSS a pass and even a passing grade for being one of the few CNMI agencies that truly capitalized on the ARRA funding. But it is still PSS’ fault for not making sure the stakeholders knew this as they are using the expensive PSS newspaper for the wrong purpose.

1. Remi also said:

– The financial crisis at PSS is due to the Board of Education not handling the waste, abuse and mismanagement properly. She was right in a way but it is really the board’s fault for not holding the commissioner accountable. One of the biggest weaknesses in our education system is the lack of systemic accountability that extends both horizontally and vertically throughout the system. With teacher contracts under a nonrenewable status without cause, there will never be complete accountability of PSS’ operations and activities with teachers, staff, principals, administrators, and the commissioner. She mentioned the Blackberry purchases for all management and principals-they did not need them as their duty station is a “stationary” post with phones and the most they could actually justify is a simple phone for emergencies. I bet some of them probably didn’t want the additional headache but could use the free phone.

– The glamour/colorful expensive printing cost of PSS quarterly newsletter. This is education politics to make the COE look good, pure and simple. Just think who is in most of the pictures, the commissioner. The paper was not a means of getting all the stakeholders involved and informing them about the good and the challenges in education because that would mean more accountability to the stakeholders. Furthermore, many of these newspapers are never read because of its presentation-mostly the people who are in the paper are the ones who really go through it.

– The glamour and expensive picture frames at PSS hallways and BOE conference room. It is OK as long as the frames stay when their picture comes down. You know how things seem to just fly away on their own.

– The expensive conference room furniture at BOE’s conference room. ARRA money that had to be spent.

– The expensive 48” flat screen in the central conference room and BOE’s conference room. More ARRA

2. Mismanagement:

– BOE approved increase of salary for one upper management with retroactive pay. May have deserved it.

– Uncollected travel advances due from mostly upper management, with one individual of over $20,000, as reported by the auditor. I checked, unlike those who don’t do their homework, and the board is still waiting for an update on this one and I hope it won’t take the Public Auditor to get it straight.

– Every time the COE travels out of the CNMI, about 2-3 PSS staff will come along with her, and BOE chairperson approves all travel outside the CNMI. All I can say is, “Amen to that one, Remi.”

– PSS pays some individuals (sweetheart deal) professional contracts. (No question from BOE.) It is sad when a certain person can get her husband a contract but other people who are highly qualified under NCLB can’t get a contract-so I will let readers call this one because what I want to say the editor won’t print. But this is a good example of exactly what Remi was talking about when she said, “The nepotism hiring practice at the expense of our children’s education. (No question from BOE.). Amen again, Remi!

3. Harassment: To make it short on harassment within PSS, Remi was dead on about the harassment and fear that still dwells within PSS, which is run like the government. She was so right about how employees are scared of losing their job. If you want to keep your job, don’t complain-but complaints are direct forms of accountability tests that are so desperately needed within PSS!

Remi’s plea for the board to take action is well founded and based on some very clear just causes of concern, especially when the leader of the school system knew the power might be cut off but still got on a plane and left the troops here to fend for ourselves. Heck, the troops were up at the Legislature fighting while the general was in a plush hotel in Washington. Speaking of Washington, Kilili can open more doors and do far more than the commissioner could ever do in Washington and there was no need for her to leave and beg for PSS when we have Kilili there to do it for us and to make it worse she took other people with her. What a joke on the stakeholders.

Remi is obviously starting to smell the stink of PSS when she said, “I bet there’s a lot of things going around at PSS and not being exposed to the public due to employees being scared of losing their job and I don’t blame them.” It would have certainly created a big stink when I was forced to retire from Kagman because the principal didn’t like me and was threatening not to renew my contract but I didn’t say anything because the commissioner gave me a job at the JDU just so I wouldn’t complain publicly or, should I say, to keep the stink down. But the good part about a stink, sooner or later it gets so bad and loud that everyone can smell it and then something is done. The old not-until-we-have-to attitude that one of my daughters says is the attitude of our leaders and she is so right. They can’t even fool our children, which is why I’m so glad the next generation will not make these same mistakes of no accountability in education.

As for the criminal activities and the financial status of PSS, I must offer another big amen, Remi. The lack of genuine accountability allows the things she described to take place. The inability of the commissioner to be a real leader, especially in the business aspect of running the school system, is why there must be a change at the helm of the school system. The school system has been managed but hasn’t been led anywhere. PSS is now going backwards with overcrowded classes, disputes ending up in the Legislature, and lights being turned off because the commissioner was nonfunctioning and nowhere to be found. I believe the commissioner cares and is trying her best but when it is something good at PSS she is in the middle of the picture but when there is a challenge and real work needs to be done, she is nowhere around! I tried to support the present COE as I believe in being objective and giving everyone a fair chance to prove themselves. I believe in the philosophy of one of my professors who taught me about leadership: “You must give a professional enough rope to be productive or to hang themselves with” and it is clear the commissioner has hung herself figuratively.

P.S.: The commissioner allowed my forced retirement from Kagman High and hired a sub to take my place, so what does that say about Students’ First when your child lost a Highly Qualified Teacher for a sub who was not highly qualified? This is a real life example of how our schools are really run, which more than substantiates Remi’s claim of fear by PSS employees and the unknown horror stories kept secret at PSS.

Ambrose M. Bennett is a retired Public School System teacher and a former Board of Education member.