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Garrison’s resignation surprises House education chair
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Posted on Jul 12 2011
The lawmaker that called for a hearing on Marianas High School principal Craig Garrison’s management and leadership style expressed surprise with the principal’s decision to resign.
“Honestly, it was not really what I wanted. I feel sorry for the guy that he resigned. All the committee wanted was the truth. I was hoping that he would to testify so we could analyze which group is telling the truth,” said House Education Committee chair Raymond Palacios (Cov-Saipan) yesterday.
Palacios, who held hearings on June 3 and July 6 to address accusations made by former MHS teacher James Yangetmai against Garrison, said his committee was not really pushing for the MHS principal’s ouster.
“I never intended [for] him to resign. I don’t want him to blame us. If only PSS authorized him to testify maybe we could have tried to address the matter and come up with a resolution,” he said.
As for what happens next, Palacios said he is not sure and that he will leave it up to the committee to decide. He added that Yangetmai recently called him to suggest that issues at MHS have not been not resolved even after Garrison’s resignation.
“I need to schedule a meeting with committee members and get a consensus first. I cannot decide on my own. Mr. Yangetmai said he still has some concerns but I told him to go to PSS first. I told him we respect PSS’ autonomy. If nothing is done and everything is falling on deaf ears, that’s when we could step in,” said Palacios.
Garrison’s resignation will take effect Sept. 1. He will be replaced at MHS by vice principal Cherlyn Cabrera.
“I feel bad because he has a family and mouths to feed. We just wanted to get the truth and that’s it,” said Palacios.
