PSS renews request to amend instructional minutes

The Public School System has renewed a request to the Board of Education to amend the minimum instructional minutes for this coming school year.

During the BOE Instructional Services and Assessment Committee meeting last Friday, Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada reiterated his request to amend the policy. Ada is proposing a minimum of 32,400 minutes of instructional time for kindergarten students, 64,800 minutes of instructional time for students in Grades 1-5, 54,000 minutes of instructional time for students in Grades 6-8, and 54,000 minutes of instructional for students in Grades 9-12.

PSS usually provides 180 days of instruction to its students from kindergarten through the 12th grade. Ada said the proposed instructional calendar provides flexibility in determining how these minutes are distributed.

“Considering we have only a four-day school week this coming school year due to the typhoon and the pandemic, we also anticipate budget shortfalls. So we need flexibility as we face future disasters, calamities and pandemics, and budget challenges,” Ada said.

BOE member Andrew Orsini and ISA committee head agreed that PSS has to allow school operations and teachers to have some flexibility due to the current health crisis and the economic downturn.

Orsini informed PSS that Senate vice president Sen. Jude Hofschneider already introduce back in January a bill, Senate Bill 21-49, that would allow this but it remains pending in the Senate.

Orsini asked for guidance from PSS legal counsel Tiberius Mocanu regarding the instructional minutes since there is no decision on the legislation yet.

Mocanu said the school system has two ways to implement a new instructional calendar, one of which is for the Legislature to pass the bill. “This is the cleanest way of getting this done so that we are in line with the statute that governs the duration of the school year,” he said.

The second way, Mocanu said, is for Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to suspend the regulations for the 180-day instruction. Mocanu explained that since the CNMI is still in a state of emergency, the governor has the ability to suspend both statute and regulations through an executive order. However, once the state of emergency ends, PSS has to again provide 180 instructional days as required by law because the BOE has no power to change the statute.

“We can change the regulations all we want, but so long as the Education Act still mandates 180 days, we are stuck with 180 days,” he said.