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Still no teacher representative on BOE
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Posted on Sep 16 2008
Despite repeated requests, Gov. Benigno Fitial has failed to appoint a teacher representative to the Public School System’s Board of Education.
Betty Miller, president of the Association of Commonwealth Teachers, said the BOE is supposed to make decisions based on the best choices for the students.
“We work with kids days in and day out so we know what the kids’ needs are,” she said.
Historically, the board has not had a teacher representative, but it is mandated in the Commonwealth Constitution, she said.
The board has written Gov. Benigno Fitial several times asking for an appointment, said board chair Lucy Blanco-Maratita.
“The role of teachers’ rep is mandated by [the] Constitution and provides the teachers a seat/voice at the board table and gives the elected board the benefit of teachers’ perspective,” she said in an e-mail.
Charles Reyes, spokesman for the Governor’s Office, said Fitial is still waiting on advice from the Office of the Attorney General.
“We need to be sure the Constitution enjoins him to make such an appointment,” he said in an e-mail “This may not be a constitutional mandate, according to one of the governor’s advisers, and the administration is reluctant to involve itself in such PSS affairs. Although previous governors have made such appointments in the past, we are not sure it is a requirement of the office. The administration will be content to follow the counsel of our Office of the Attorney General.”
The board is made up of five elected at large members, and according to the Constitution, “the governor shall appoint three nonvoting ex-officio members to the board of education: one member shall be a student attending a public school; one member shall be a representative of nonpublic schools; and one member selected by an exclusive bargaining representative of the teachers within the Department of Education.”
In January, former teacher representative Ambrose Bennett filed a complaint against Fitial with the Attorney General’s Office, citing the governor’s failure to appoint a representative to the board.
