Sablan places Garrison on admin leave

The departure of Craig Garrison from Marianas High School will take place sooner than expected after Education Commissioner Rita Sablan placed him yesterday on administrative leave—a decision that Garrison criticized as a “clear sign of retaliation.”

It was past 4pm yesterday when Garrison received a hand-delivered letter from Sablan stopping him from reporting for work effective Monday, July 18.

Garrison’s contract is supposed to end on Sept. 1. He will still be paid during his administrative leave.

Sablan’s letter states that acting principal Cherlyn Cabrera will take over all of Garrison’s unfinished work and reminds him to turn over all transition materials to the official in charge. Garrison was also advised to submit all necessary documents to the Human Resource Office for processing.

Garrison quit his job last week, citing irreconcilable differences with Sablan.

Yesterday, Garrison described Sablan’s action as a clear “retaliation” after he voiced out his opinion regarding Sablan’s leadership style. He said he is reviewing the board’s policy on administrative leaves.

“She just wanted to get rid off me. It’s now obvious that she’s retaliating,” Garrison told Saipan Tribune.

Sablan, during yesterday’s interview with reporters on Capital Hill, expressed surprise about the statements made by Garrison pertaining to their irreconcilable differences. She refused to further comment on the issue, saying the resignation had been received and was accepted by her office.

Resignation letter

In his resignation letter to Sablan, Garrison cited many reasons for his dissatisfaction that led to his resignation.

“I have been reflecting on the many things we discussed [during the one-on-one interview] and the points I had tried to convey as both a school leader, and one whose history in the system has always been at the largest schools, thus assuming the greatest responsibilities. However, aside from all of that I am still at a loss for the feeling of critical support in professional and personal growth, management, or otherwise equity within the ranks of principal,” said Garrison in his letter, adding that he came to a point where he just does not feel that the system will ever be reciprocal in terms of equity among schools.

“Your office seems to think that a systems approach is ‘treating everyone the same,’ and that is not true. The fact is a systems approach requires effective school leaders and/or district superintendents to have a key understanding of the many different systems operating within the organizational unit and as such they will need to be treated differently. The example is clear, as a school with only 100 pupils is far different in both need and responsibility than that of one which is 1,400. To remind you again, MHS is twice the size of any school in the district and will likely be even larger next year. My suggestion is that the system identify with that concept as it is clear from what I have found out this last year at MHS that the system, and not simply the previous principal, is the reason the school was in such a state of disrepair and disenfranchisement,” added Garrison in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Garrison’s letter indicated that “irreconcilable differences in both the management decisions and actions taken by the Office of the Commissioner as my primary reason for the writing of this letter.”