Parents: Lab School is not just for a few

The College Lab School benefits not just a few, but the entire community, said CLS parents who pressed authorities Friday “to save the school” and prioritize the hiring of its teachers for the upcoming school year.

“Some think that the Lab School is only for a select few and it’s elitist and all that, but we want the public to understand that the Lab School benefits the entire community. This is where we train our teachers who will teach the children in other schools in the Commonwealth. This is where our future teachers learn about ‘best practices’ in the classroom. So the issue of closing it concerns all the children in the CNMI,” said CLS parent Veni Folta.

Folta, together with other Lab School parents, attended Friday’s Northern Marianas College Board of Regents meeting to press for the immediate hiring of three schoolteachers and to air their concerns over the planned closure of the Lab School in Finasisu and its transfer to the Public School System.

Vince Riley said parents are currently doing some fundraising to help the college hire three teachers for the school.

He said the NMC leadership recently informed the parents that the hiring of three teachers requires $80,000.

NMC officials said on Friday that the three needed FTEs for CLS are part of the hiring priority list of 15 FTEs.

“Don’t think that the administration is ignoring you. It’s on our priority list,” the administration said, but it acknowledged that the list carries no assurance of immediate hiring due to lack of funds.

CLS parent Saeed Rastguiy told the board that letting go of the school is like “terrorizing the children.”

“We’re trying to educate our children with our own expenses and closing the college school is depriving them of the chance to get that education. It’s terrorizing the kids,” he said.

He further said that CLS produces “quality” graduates. “I have heard from Marianas High School that students from CLS who were tested scored the highest. CLS has better quality education. We should keep this school here and not move it anywhere.”

Rastguiy said he “appreciates the board’s openness” to hear the parents’ concerns.

The board, chaired by Kimberlyn King-Hinds, may decide on the hiring request on July 9.

CLS, which offers kindergarten to 8th grade, needs three more teachers to handle the upper grade levels. The school has only two teachers left, authorities said.