Appointment of new PSS chief protested

A concerned teacher questioned yesterday the appointment of Cynthia Deleon Guerrero as education commissioner and asked the Board of Education to explain how they arrived at her selection. She also wants the new education chief’s appointment rescinded.

In an open letter addressed to Board of Education chair Herman Guerrero, Alisa Pangelinan described herself as a concerned CNMI PSS teacher and said she represents PSS teachers and staff.

In her letter to Guerrero, Pangelinan demanded an explanation and revocation of Deleon Guerrero’s appointment as PSS commissioner.

Saipan Tribune’s repeated attempts to obtain comments from Guerrero were unsuccessful as of press time.

The letter read, “We, the PSS teachers and staff, do not just want an explanation by the board in the selection of Mrs. Deleon Guerrero, but to rescind its action in the selection and appointment of Mrs. Deleon Guerrero. We just want to know in writing that the board has done its role in our request and recommendation.”

Pangelinan also scored board members who approved of the decision of their “failure to uphold the integrity of their fiduciary duties.”

“Any inaction of the board may ultimately result in a court litigation and incur punitive monetary damages because of the illegal actions and wrongdoing through such hiring practices. We will charge each individual board member who voted for her and call for each member’s resignation because of the board’s misconduct in their discriminatory action,” wrote Pangelinan.

Highly placed sources said that Tanya R. King, Janice A. Tenorio, and Marylou S. Ada voted for Deleon Guerrero’s appointment.

The letter expressed Pangelinan’s disappointment with the decision.

Pangelinan claims that there was a conflict in proper work ethic as Deleon Guerrero was still in office during her selection as PSS commissioner.

“Mrs. Deleon Guerrero was still in the position as PSS Human Resource manager while receiving and processing other candidates’ applications for the position announcement of PSS commissioner. This conflicts with proper work ethic,” wrote Pangelinan.

“Whether or not she handled the paperwork personally, she still acted in her capacity as the head of the office, when she should have applied for an absence of leave or delegated someone to oversee the process due to the conflict of interest,” Pangelinan’s letter reads.

Pangelinan claims that the selection and appointment of Deleon Guerrero as PSS commissioner violates both local and federal law due to her still being in office at the Human Resource office of PSS during her selection.

“This act brings into suspicious questioning of how Mrs. Deleon Guerrero’s application was reviewed, evaluated, and scrutinized if her office received all the applications and this questions the bias and fairness of the process. Because of her involved role, the rating of the other applicants may be questionable and compromising the integrity of the overall process,” reads the letter.

“This action not only violates local law, but most importantly, federal law,” said Pangelinan in the letter.

Pangelinan also blasted the BOE, saying it also violated federal law.

“The PSS board in its selection and appointment [of] Mrs. Deleon Guerrero as the PSS commissioner is discriminatory in practice and in violation of the Equal Employment Opportunity [law], which is a federal law.”

Pangelinan added that Deleon Guerrero as PSS’ human resource officer failed to advise the board of its “questionable employment practices.”

Pangelinan wrote that Deleon Guerrero does not have enough teaching experience to meet the requirements of being a PSS commissioner.

“She is required to have at least five years teaching classroom experience. If she claims that she was an adjunct professor at Northern Marianas College, such a position is part-time in nature. Does she have enough teaching hours as an adjunct professor to equal a year-round, full-time classroom teacher who has attained the actual five-year minimal teaching experience?”

Pangelinan said that Deleon Guerrero did not meet the administrative experience required to be a commissioner.

“Another requirement is that the selected applicant shall possess an overall educational administrative experience which is the main requisite of leadership in administering an educational institution such as PSS. Being an admission officer with NMC and the present Human Resource officer for PSS does not count nor equal actual educational administrative experience and it does not constitute meeting such a requirement,” wrote Pangelinan.