Bennett to stop attending education board meetings

Public School teacher representative Ambrose Bennett said he intends to stop attending general board meetings until the board has decided on his longstanding petition for a teachers’ collective bargaining agreement.

“I’ve put it forward since April but the board has not made any decision on it. It formed an ad hoc committee but I don’t think they’ve met and made any decision. We need to have either a yes or no answer from the board,” said Bennett yesterday.

He said attending the board meetings without the board’s recognition of the teachers’ right to bargain would be “useless.”

“It makes no sense to me to attend meetings when I’m not part of the process… I don’t plan on attending any general meeting where issues are finalized by a vote that I don’t have because it’s a waste of my time, gas, and efforts,” he said.

Besides, he said it is not fair to his students, fellow teachers, and principal “for me to attend BOE functions without a substitute being provided by BOE.”

Bennett said he would just allow individual school teacher representatives to pursue recognition agreement for teachers.

He said he “is caught in the middle,” noting that he could only help BOE or teachers when an agreement is reached, “which is why I have chosen to step [aside] and let the school level representatives pursue it.”

When reached for comment, BOE chair Roman C. Benavente said not attending board meetings is Bennett’s choice.

“We can’t force him to attend. It’s his choice,” Benavente said, but he warned that such action would be a disservice to teachers he represents.

“He’d be misrepresenting the teachers,” he said.

Benavente said that the ad hoc committee, which he formed a few months ago, has yet to submit a report to him on the matter.

“Nothing has been brought to my attention. We’ll address it when time permits,” he said.

The board chair said that Bennett should remember that by law, his position is a non-voting member of the board.

Benavente earlier appointed board member Marja Lee Taitano to head the ad hoc committee to tackle teachers’ exclusive bargaining agreement. Other members include Frances Diaz and Herman T. Guerrero.

Bennett has insisted that CNMI teachers have the right to collective bargaining under federal and local laws. By law, he said the board “has no options and cannot refuse recognition nor dictate the type of representation for teachers.”

“It would be prudent and in the best interest of all the stakeholders for BOE to act in ‘good faith’ through a collaborative effort to reach an agreement on the issue,” he said.