A legislative catastrophe or a wake-up call for teachers

The H.L. Initiative 16-9 to limit BOE terms and to take control of teachers is manipulative when it placed two separate issues on the same initiative. Everyone agrees that board members should only serve two terms but to try and take away the rights of teachers with the same initiative is disturbing and could even be catastrophic. We saw the same strategy work in reverse with the 1995 Constitutional Convention that placed all the recommended changes to the Constitution in one initiative that included land alienation. Everyone knows that nothing was approved by the people because of the one issue of land being tied with all the other recommendations. The issues should be separated but the real question for teachers is, will the initiative be a catastrophe or an awakening?

The initiative takes away from the CNMI Constitution the right of teachers to bargain, to purposely impede the ability of teachers to place a check on the board and administration. Teachers are the drive train of the system because teachers serve the main function of PSS, yet teachers at present have the least to say about education policy. No one on the board or in government wants to help teachers; they just want to control the teachers, which is evident in the proposed initiative and even more obvious when teachers can’t even get the governor to help them with a simple election process. The Legislature should be trying to help teachers place a check on the board instead of trying make teachers even more powerless and dependant on the board.

I bet the board knew about the initiative but teachers didn’t. Every stakeholder in PSS should know why teachers weren’t at least consulted on this proposed initiative, which speaks volumes about the attitude of the board and the Legislature toward teachers because it is clear teachers are being treated worse than alien workers. In fact, alien employees have better contracts than teachers, with better guarantees and perks like insurance. The only plus for teachers is the amount of pay. It should be clear to everyone with common sense that teachers have no say and now the Legislature is trying to make sure teachers will never have a real say by taking away their bargaining rights. I warned teachers and now the truth is coming to the surface but will teachers finally wake up?

The board is conducting a two-year review of the Commissioner’s performance but who do you think reviews the performance of the board? Teachers, because we are the ones who actually see first hand and actually feel the effects of the board’s policies (good and bad). Every person with common sense should know that your child’s teachers knows more about what needs to be done to help your child than a person on the board. The board may run the business but teachers do the primary work. But teachers will never hold the board accountable without their bargaining rights. In fact, the whole fiasco created by the board to get rid of me was all about making sure teachers never come to power but many teachers just didn’t get it. Teachers should be pressing the board and the governor to answer the certified questions I submitted to them after the court refused because everyone knows they still need to be answered if the board truly wants to help teachers with the selection process.

Governance over the school system is supposed to have the same type of checks and balances that we see in all the other aspect of governing. However, there are no checks and balances on the board because teachers are not exercising their right to bargain. The board has made it clear they don’t want teachers to have their right to bargain but the 19th century model of top-down leadership displayed by the board is the typical behavior of leadership that brought unions to power in the first place. The board does not want teachers to influence policy as I was told by different board members to “sit in the corner and be quite” and “if you don’t go along with the Board I will cut your legs.”

Why isn’t the board pushing for the passage of the bill that changes the two-year limit law for teacher contracts so teachers can acquire permanent status? Why did the 15th Legislature pigeonhole the bill so it would never to see the light of day when it won’t cost a dime to make HQ Teachers permanent? Why aren’t the PRAXIS HQ Teachers demanding permanent status or do they even care? But the bigger question is why are teachers remaining so quiet, failing to organize and being such poor citizens when it comes to laws affecting them and their own livelihood? Wake up teachers, because it should be clear that no one cares unless you first care about yourself!

But I’ll tell you why teachers are so dormant: All governors have failed to properly and completely carry out the law and the former board and ACT have created an environment where only an administrator feels comfortable as the Teacher Rep, which is why no teacher wants to step forward for such a high honor. But teachers should remember the words of the late Barbara Gillis who was the CNMI 1999 Teacher of Year when she said: “As we go from the 19th century factory model of schools, to a 21st century model of prevention, teachers must see their role as being bigger than the classroom. We must learn to, and be willing to become leaders, and work with other educational professionals and community leaders to educate our politicians, the media, village leaders, parents, students and one another for what needs to be done for our children.” As you can tell, I have been doing exactly what she said, only I have been extending my interest to help teachers and the entire CNMI. We need more teachers to step up to the challenge.

There are also two AG opinions that clearly state that “the Board of Education should not interfere or have any influence in the Teacher Representative Selection process” but now the board wants all power. Teachers already have the power to determine a selection process but teachers must function as a “collective of 50 percent plus 1” majority to exercise full authority over the Teacher Rep selection. What I still don’t understand is how teachers encourage their students to be informed and active citizens but fail to organize and exercise their U.S. and CNMI Constitutional right to bargain collectively, which is the real problem. Teachers have failed to live up to our responsibility in the Constitution to become the recognized exclusive bargaining representative of teachers. It’s the teachers’ own fault. Given the treatment I was subjected to by the previous board and ACT it may take federal authorities or a national union to intervene and guarantee teachers protection before they will come forward and organize to demand their right to collective bargaining.

The governance system of PSS as presently written in the Constitution depends on teachers to create checks and balances on the system. The proposed changes by the initiative to teachers’ rights should be highly protested by teachers and the parents of children who depend on teachers to educate their children. Parents who care about their child and what happens in the classroom need to exercise their common sense and support their child’s teacher first before supporting the preferences of board members and politicians who want teachers to be powerless. The governor and the board need to answer the questions I submitted to bring an end to the teacher rep controversy and stop avoiding the inevitable. Teachers need answers, not a law taking away their rights!

As for the proposed initiative, I have already requested a public hearing to be conducted by the Senate before they vote. I have done all I can do on this issue and it is now in the hands of teachers and the community to speak up and have the teacher rep portion of the initiative stricken before it is put on the ballot or we will face the same phenomena we faced in 1995 that served to accomplish nothing. It was bad enough the lower house passed a constitutional initiative without a public hearing or consulting the very people it would affect. But the initiative does prove the lack of respect for teachers that exist with the governor, the board and the Legislature. It is time to wake up, teachers!
[B] Ambrose M. Bennett[/B] [I]Former BOE Teacher Rep.
Kagman, Saipan[/I]