20 more classroom teachers needed in public schools

The Public School System still needs 20 more teachers for this new school year in order to accommodate all its enrollees, which already number 10,737 as of this week, according to Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan yesterday.

At Marianas High School, seven teachers are needed—three for math, two for career technical education, and one each for science and language arts.

Three classroom teachers are required at William S. Reyes Elementary School, while Garapan Elementary is scouting for two teachers. Kagman Elementary is trying to recruit one teacher while Hopwood Junior High is looking for two science teachers.

Two special education teachers are also needed at Tinian schools and one teacher each for Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School and Hopwood Junior High. A new post opened up at Saipan Southern High School for its special education program.

Classes in public schools will begin on Sept. 6.

Sablan reported that 10,737 students have so far enrolled with PSS as of Aug. 24, broken down into 5,288 students for elementary; 4,987 for secondary; 462 for Head Start; and 56 for early intervention.

Sablan earlier projected between 3 and 5 percent increase in enrollment this school year. Registration is still ongoing in many schools.

Except for a few staffing needs in some schools, Sablan said that PSS is pretty much ready to open classes in September School schedules and course offerings are all completed for the new school year; inspections are ongoing in all school campuses.

Sablan also assured the Board of Education that the Food and Nutrition Services vendor and program are in place, ready to provide breakfast and lunch meals to both public and private schools.

To ensure children’s safety, PSS revised the bus transportation schedule this year and encourage parents to chaperone their kids to the bus stations. All buses will roll out of central bus station at 6:45am with first pick up at 7am.

Elementary schools will start classes at 8am, while secondary schools will start at 8:30am.

Highly qualified

Sablan said yesterday that PSS has achieved 100 percent employment of highly qualified personnel, including administrators, counselors, and classroom teachers.

This is pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act mandate that all school districts will fill classrooms only with highly qualified personnel beginning July 31, 2011.

According to PSS finance director Richard Waldo, there are an estimated 570 classroom teachers currently employed by PSS, including federally funded employees.

“We retain those who passed their Praxis and other requirements and we let go of those who failed,” he told Saipan Tribune, adding that due to number of newly passed HQTs, salaries were adjusted based on the HQT compensation plan.

Early this year, over 100 employees, majority of them teachers, were issued 90-day notice as a result of non-compliance with HQT requirements. Waldo revealed that a significant number passed the standards and kept their jobs while others are still waiting for the result of their Praxis tests.