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Board awaits advice on Lab School
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Posted on Jun 23 2004
The Northern Marianas College Board of Regents is waiting for the recommendation of the NMC administration on issues surrounding the college’s Lab School.
NMC board chair Kimberlyn-King Hinds said that, while acting NMC president Tony Deleon Guerrero has already briefed the board on the school, it has not received any recommendation on specific actions such as the hiring of three teachers for the upcoming school year.
“We’ll hear from the president,” she said.
As far as the Lab School parents’ call for a meeting with the board, she said, “I have an open-door policy.”
However, she said she prefers it if the group first talk with the NMC administration. “I have an open-door policy, but steps need to be taken first before going up to the board.”
King-Hinds said, though, that the board will hold a meeting before the end of the month, something the parents group had been asking for.
The CLS Parent Advisory Council earlier asked the college to authorize the hiring of three replacement teachers for the fall program.
Karen Buettner said that CLS, which offers kindergarten to 8th grade, has only two teachers so far. She said CLS currently lacks three teachers for the upper grade students. CLS usually hires five teachers to handle two grade levels each.
The council has also expressed concern over the planned transfer of the Lab School to the Public School System.
Buettner said the parents’ main concern “is that this distinctive approach to learning, based on current educational research, will be lost if NMC transfers the school to PSS, which has different policies and practices.”
The council believes that the school’s tuition and fees can adequately support its operation. Parents pay $200 tuition for each child a month.
Deleon Guerrero earlier said that any transfer discussion with PSS remains at an “exploratory level.” He said both PSS and NMC have one year to assess the plan.
