King to seek reelection at BOE

Tanya Denise King, the incumbent representative of Rota to the State Board of Education, announced yesterday her plan of seeking reelection in the upcoming November polls.

King’s term will expire in January 2013 and if she is fortunate enough to win, it will serve as her second term to the board after she was first elected to the position in 2007. This year’s term provides four years of service to the elected board member.

When asked about her motivation to run anew, King told Saipan Tribune yesterday that she felt that there were several items that are very close to her heart that she wanted to continue working on for students of the Commonwealth and the Public School System.

Among these is her desire to provide PSS employees more care and assistance by allowing them to receive sick leave donations from their peers so they could use them in seeking medical treatment off-island.

King’s proposal recently passed the committee level and would be endorsed to the full board next meeting for final action. Appreciative of the committee’s favorable response to her proposed policy, King said this will bring nothing but positive results to the system: loyal and productive employees at all levels. King said she worked and lobbied for the proposal for seven months before it was adopted by the committee recently.

Also included among King’s top goals is the continued transparency and accountability at PSS as well as the importance of building local capacity.

The board member also emphasized the need for PSS to utilize its resources in the most frugal way. Analyzing the situation on how PSS can best put its money, she said, is key to successfully operate the system.

But King said, she is most passionate about bringing equal educational opportunities to Saipan, Rota, and Tinian students. She said she will encourage the offering of more online and technical vocational programs for Tinian and Rota students so they can also be provided equitable educational opportunities like their counterparts on Saipan.

King is the chairperson of the board’s fiscal personnel affairs committee. She is among the five voting members onboard which also include Marylou Ada, Lucia Blanco Maratita, Herman Guerrero, and Galvin Deleon Guerrero, whose term is also set to expire. Unlike King though Deleon Guerrero is still undecided whether to seek reelection or not in November.