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Inos gets draft of executive order for teacher rep
The Board of Education has presented Gov. Eloy S. Inos with a draft of an executive order for the selection and appointment of a teacher representative to the board.
There has been no teacher representative on the board since January 2008.
The executive order would create a system where the governor would appoint the teacher selected by his or her colleagues as ‘Teacher of the Year” as the non-voting teacher representative on the board.
The teacher rep would serve a one-year term, according to the order.
The draft order cites Article 15 of the CNMI Constitution, which empowers the governor to appoint three nonvoting “ex-officio members to the Board of Education,” one of which is a teacher rep.
Guerrero has sent two previous letters to Inos this year—on May 2 and Aug. 2—urging for the use of an executive order.
In an interview, Guerrero said the letter to the governor is a part of their “continuing efforts” for the Legislature to take the initiative on the matter.
The Office of the Governor has acknowledged receiving the letter, Guerrero said.
As reported earlier, PSS previously proposed a bill that called for schoolwide election by fellow teachers, but the Senate pushed a substitute bill instead that did not track the language promoted by PSS or as introduced by then-Senate Education Committee chair Sen. Jovita Taimano (Ind-Rota). Instead, the Legislature recommended that teachers hold an election to decide on their representative.
The board rejected this recommendation.
“Based on the results of the survey, PSS teachers want to have the…teacher representative appointed to the position. Because this bill does not reflect the will of teachers, PSS cannot support it at this time,” stated a joint letter that PSS and the BOE submitted to the House education panel last year.
In the May 2 letter this year, Guerrero noted the “ongoing struggle to motivate the Legislature to act in a coherent matter.”
“The Constitution calls for a selection process to be done pursuant to law. Unfortunately the Legislature has not done so,” Guerrero said then.
