BOE’s Norman booted out from teachers’ meeting

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

Board of Education teacher representative Scott Norman left his house early yesterday morning to attend the teachers union meeting at the Kagman Community Center, only to be asked to step out of the meeting.

Norman, together with Public School System federal programs advisor Tim Thornburg, questioned co-teacher representative Ambrose Bennett why they were not allowed inside the meeting.

“I came here to this organizational meeting of this teachers’ union as an observer,” Norman said.

He said he had come in and sat quietly until the visiting speakers asked who in the meeting was not a teacher. The Guam Federation of Teachers president Matt Rector, vice president Tim Fedenko, and membership director Todd Baum facilitated the teachers’ union meeting.

Norman said he raised his hand and told the facilitators that he is a member of the Board of Education representing the private schools. It was then that he was asked to leave by the Guam facilitators.

“I said, with all due respect I am simply here to observe, and I don’t feel that I should be asked to leave,” he said.

Norman said some teachers wanted him to stay and some wanted him to leave. “I was told I was being disrespectful for being there,” he said. “I am not being disrespectful for being here. I would be disrespectful if I stayed.”

Norman was disappointed over being asked to leave, saying that the meeting was open to the public because if the organizers did not want the public in the meeting then they should not have announced the meeting in the newspapers at all.

“Forcing the public out [of the meeting] is not right,” said Norman. If they had wanted it to be kept a secret, then they should have kept it to themselves, he added.

Bennett explained to Norman and Thornburg outside the community center that it was not his choice not to allow them inside the meeting. He also stressed that it was not a secret meeting.

“It was just a meeting scheduled for teachers only,” he said. “The board and the administrators were asked not to come, merely to respect the teachers.”

Bennett said the speakers merely wanted to avoid having the teachers intimidated by the presence of school officials in the meeting. He apologized to the board members if his message that non-teachers were not invited to the meeting did not get through to the other members. He said that he had told the board that, if they want to meet the GFT officials, then he would set up a meeting with them.

“So that’s why I assumed that nobody was coming,” Bennett said.

Bennett said that Norman’s presence implied power over the teachers. Norman quickly denied Bennett statements.

Bennett said he regrets the misunderstanding but he assured that nothing in the meeting would be kept secret. Results will be released for the public, he said.

“I have no problem with it but it is a policy of the federation that teachers have the right to organization without fear of being involved at all,” he added.

Norman said he wanted to attend the meeting because he is the chairman of the Teacher-Student-Parent Relation Committee and he finds the meeting important for his position. “This is new. Very new, a new thing,” said Norman, “I want to be better equipped to deal with this because it surely is going to come to the committee.”

Norman also questioned Bennett’s presence in the meeting since Bennett is also part of the Board of Education. Bennett said he could not just leave because he was the one who rented the place.