Teachers, students concerned over delay in school opening

Since the Board of Education has approved a delay in the opening of public schools, a handful of teachers and students are concerned that students will be led to less constructive behavior as a result of long summer months.

PSS has pushed the SY2008-2009 opening from August to September.

Kagman High School teacher Ambrose Bennett said one of his biggest concerns was that the community is not addressing the needs of the students after school, “and now you have even longer summer months ahead.”

“For sure, there will be less constructive behavior and what I’m trying to say is that we need to try and provide them more during the summer to make them more constructive or just as constructive when they go back to school,” he said.

Another KHS teacher, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, agreed that “it is unfortunate that the CNMI does not have much of anything for the students after school, [now] what are they supposed to do until September?”

“During the summer, students are idle and now they will become even more idle during the longer summer months,” she said.

According to the BOE, the reason for the delayed opening of the school is to cut utilities cost and ensure that there is enough funds for the following school year 2008-2009.

KHS student Amanda Santos said she feels that students would become lazier and less constructive when they go back to school.

Santos added that she feels that trouble among teens will be on the rise as there is not much to do. “It’s a sure thing,” she said.

KHS 10th graders Jon and Lucian (not their real names) said they feel that the delay in the opening of the schools is “too long.”

“If the schools open in September, we might forget most of what we’ve learned in the previous years,” Jon said.

Both Jon and Lucian said they have no plans on how to spend their summer vacation. “I just hope I can find a job,” Jon said.

BOE chairwoman Lucy Blanco-Maratita it is important that parents understand their role, “as the primary person in their children’s lives who are responsible for providing guidance to their children…”

She added that it is not reasonable to say that a rise in problems among teenagers would be PSS’ fault just because of the delayed school opening.

“As a community, we have to work together and cannot place all responsibility for our children on PSS,” Blanco-Maratita said. “As parents, we need to also find activities for our children outside of school, to work with the various organizations and place our children where we, as parents, see fit for our children, and also to guide them as to what is the best use of the extra time they will now have outside the school year” such as participating in summer camps and sports clinic, or even look for a job through the Workforce Investment Agency.

Bennett said he tried to get the school system to start two summer programs but both ideas had been rejected.

“One is an academic film festival and another was an internet [café] where students can get Internet access for free,” Bennett said. “The sad part is there is actually federal money available to do all these things. But the school system just does not want to buy in to helping these kids over the summer—they’re saying it’s not a good use of federal money. I think we should let the people decide what is a good use for federal money for their kids … and not one or two people who don’t want something just because I represented it.”