‘What good is an iPad if I cannot go to work or pay for electricity?’

This was a question that Oleai Elementary School kindergarten teacher, Bertha Flores Orsini, repeated to the Board of Education at the BOE meeting last Sept. 11, from a parent who was concerned about how she will be able to not only provide care while her child goes to school, but also make sure that bills are paid.

During the public comments, Orsini stated that parents do not have to choose between keeping their child safe while also making sure their child gets quality education. They deserve both quality educations and a safe environment, she added, and that parents also deserve the right to choose between online learning or face-to-face. “The CNMI is probably the safest place in the world to have face-to-face education. Our private schools have already shown us that it can be done,” said Orsini.

Orsini added that the only source for a brighter future are the “bright minds of our students.” Additionally, because teachers have already been taught how to set desks 6 feet apart, the Public School System should allow kids to learn the same. Orsini stated that every teacher knows at least one teacher who has already bought a classroom set of face masks—“just in case.”

Orsini said that teachers have been using the first week of school to contact parents and ask if they have internet, a form of technology that could be used for online learning. However, she believes that the “real question” that should’ve been asked is if parents want face-to-face or online classes.

“I called up parents in my roster, and I’ve been so moved by some of their stories. I heard a parent crying, because of the kids learning from home, we are depriving them of socializing with their peers,” said Orsini. “One mom said, ‘What good is an iPad if I cannot go to work or pay for electricity?’ And then I think of all the [other] kids who call school home because their real houses do not have people who believe in them,” she said.

Orsini expressed that nothing can come close to looking into a child’s eye when you tell them that they can do; not even the “highest pixilated webcam” will do any justice. She pleaded with the BOE members to give every family the choice between face-to-face or online learning, not just for students who have special needs but for those who also call school their “home.”

“As a teacher, I am trained to teach both because I know whether it is online or face-to-face, the students are going to love learning because they want to be there, because they were given a choice,” said Orsini.