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Muña: PSS all set for school opening
The CNMI Public School System is ready for today’s opening of classes for school year 2018-2019 and the more than 20 schools under its supervision are ready to welcome thousands of expected students, said interim commissioner Glenn Muña.
He said they have addressed all issues, from the hiring of teachers and other staff to the renovation of facilities and securing all permits needed weeks before the opening of the classes.
“We have renovations, that’s always been ongoing. We’ve hired enough staff and we’re ready to go. The inspections, we’re wrapping it up and ready to go. We’re all ready to welcome our students,” said Muña.
He added they have been working with the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Bureau of Environmental Health, and the Department of Public Works’ Building Code Safety in inspecting and securing all school facilities.
“We’ve worked with them all summer to address all of their findings and their recommendations. All our schools have their permits and come Wednesday, we’re ready to open up our schools,” Muña said. “We also increased our [internet] bandwidth. And, for the first time, we’ve hired all [the teachers and staff] that we need. We have about 1,001 teachers and staff.”
He said that it would also be a busy first quarter of this year for PSS. “We also have our accreditation that we’re gearing up for in October. We’re going to be announcing our teacher of the year and counselor of the year in November.”
Muña, in last week’s CNMI State Board of Education meeting, told the board that they were able to hire 27 new teachers.
PSS has also hired two Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps instructors, four coaches, two classroom teachers for Head Start, two special education classroom teachers, and one Early Intervention occupational therapist.
Most of the school principals hired their teachers to fill their vacant slots even before the school opening.
