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Tanapag seen as Lab School venue
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Posted on Jun 08 2004
Acting Northern Marianas College president Antonio V. Deleon Guerrero confirmed yesterday that the Tanapag Elementary School is being eyed as a venue for the college’s Laboratory School.
“That’s the suggestion of the Public School System because Tanapag has available rooms and it has less students compared to other schools,” said Guerrero.
He reiterated, though, that this discussion remains at an “exploratory level.”
“I would like to clarify this once again that no final decision has been made here,” he said, noting that both NMC and PSS are tasked to conduct a feasibility study on the issue for one year.
“We don’t want to rush this,” he said.
Guerrero said NMC and PSS will form their own internal task forces to study the proposed partnership over the Lab School.
Initial discussions, he said, showed that PSS could take over the administration of the Lab School, while NMC would remain in control of the curriculum.
He said the PSS would provide a principal for the school. Both would, however, share in providing the teachers. Initial plans require NMC to provide four FTES for the Lab School.
Guerrero said the partnership would both benefit the college and PSS. He said it would unburden NMC from having to pay $90,000 in rentals annually for housing units for the Lab School.
At the same time, he said that PSS would have free access to the Lab School for its teacher training program.
Further, he said that PSS would be getting NMC-paid teachers for the Lab School.
“The whole idea is to improve the quality of learning and to make sure it’s cost-effective,” Guerrero said.
Earlier, some Lab School parents expressed opposition to NMC’s plan to transfer the school to Tanapag. Aside from being far from most villages, they said the transfer would not prevent them from paying their children’s tuition of $200 a month.
Yesterday, Guerrero said that once PSS comes in, Lab School students’ tuition would be waived.
“Commissioner Rita Inos made it very clear that students will not be paying tuition because the Constitution guarantees free education for this level,” he said.
The Lab School serves as the internship or the hands-on facility for college students taking up a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
