Bennett puzzled by non-involvement in ‘new’ regs

The move by the Board of Education to impose stricter training requirements for teachers and other employees came as a big surprise to Ambrose Bennett and the public school teacher representative is now questioning why he was never involved in the decision process.

In a public notice this week, BOE chair Roman Benavente announced the board’s plan to require teachers to complete 60 hours of training per year to maintain their standard and professional teaching certifications.

Bennett said it seems that the BOE has already decided on the matter. Though he is not against the measure, he said there are several questions that need to be answered before such a policy is ever implemented.

“Will PSS provide an adequate number of training opportunities with enough diversity in subject matter to accommodate this requirement for 60 hours training?” he asked.

PSS associate commissioner for administrative services David M. Borja said the 60 hours of professional development training requirement has been a PSS regulation since 2003. Borja showed Saipan Tribune the regulations that included a section about the 60-hour training requirement.

Bennett questioned whether there will be redundancy in the training opportunities to accommodate the time schedules for over 500 teachers and will teachers have to do their own search and pay for travel and training.

Borja said the teachers would be able to satisfy this 60-hour training requirement by either attending a professional development session organized by PSS or by enrolling in a university or college. He said normally a university course could take 45 hours of the training requirement and the rest of the hours could be allocated to PSS-sponsored training.

“All they have to do is present documents to PSS as proof of their training,” Borja said.

Employees affected by the new regulations include teachers, librarians, school counselors, and related service providers.

Bennett is also questioning the standards and expectation of support from the administration. “Teachers have raised the expectations for administration, but it seems I’m the only one bold enough to raise these issues,” he said.

Borja said he was surprised about the reaction of the teacher representative since Bennett should have taken a hold of a copy of the regulation. Borja said he is wondering if Bennett was already part of the board when discussions on the 60-hour professional development were going on in late 2003.

Borja said the 60-hour training requirement is also part of the U.S. Department of Education’s rule on achieving High Quality Teachers that includes taking and passing PRAXIS I and II as one of its major requirements across the nation.

Earlier reports said that the stricter regulations would also apply to more rigid standards for junior and senior high school students.