MHS students speak out on suspensions

On 23 April 2009, the Saipan Tribune ran an article on the increasing number of suspensions for junior high and high school. It further states that Marianas High School had the highest suspensions in the school year of 2006-2007. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, a board member of PSS, believes “that non-compliance with the regulation could be the result of a lack of adequate counseling, or the lack of training and discipline behavior modification by counselors.”

Galvin Deleon Guerrero seems to be stating that the higher the suspension rate there is in a public school, the lower the standards of discipline that the public school has. I believe that this is an inaccurate assumption because the 955 cases of suspensions show that my school does something about the students that fool around the campus. In addition, MHS staff make sure that they get their jobs done. For instance, if a student is not in any of his or her classes, the vice principal would call his or her parents to inform them that their child was not present from any of their classes.

I know this for a fact because I was absent from my classes on April 8, 2009. The vice principal called my dad to let him know that I was not in my class, and my dad kindly replied that I was feeling ill. Moreover, if a student loses his or her lunch pass, the vice principal calls their parent to get consent. This “informing the parents” illustrates the rapport that Marianas High School has with its students. In addition, MHS counselors inform the students that if they have too many suspensions, it would jeopardize them graduating or getting promoted.

Mae Angelie Ito
Koblerville, Saipan

This is in response to the “rampant suspension” article in last Thursday’s edition of the Saipan Tribune. According to the article, suspensions in public schools are on the rise and school administrators are the ones to blame because they are not exhausting other disciplinary methods such as picking up trash and parental conferences or using counselors to their full capacity. Mr. De Leon Guerrero has called this “abuse” of the power to suspend students. I do not believe this is an abuse of power. This is a way of taking things into our hands. I’m not sure about the other high schools, but MHS has a strict zero-tolerance policy for tobacco, betel nut, and other drugs.

If I didn’t know any better I’d say Mr. De Leon Guerrero was going soft on us. Students won’t learn their lesson by picking up trash and talking. We are like lab rats in the way that they respond to pain and learn how to avoid it. We learn by making mistakes. If you picked up trash, that’s it, big deal, but if you get suspended you will most likely hear a lot from the parents. Kids tend to avoid verbal confrontation with their parents and will most likely not break the rules again. I am not proud of the fact that we are at the top of the “suspenders” but that’s how it is. Our student population is high and things just happen. It’s not the school’s fault. I am a junior here and personally I think the school does a pretty good job controlling the students.

To Mr. DLG I dare you to run a school as big as MHS with your “exhausting standard day-to-day corrective disciplinary measures” attitude. That’s like saying 2+2=5. It just doesn’t work like that

Marvin Lobrio
MHS

To our concerned parents and others of the CNMI, according to the School Reform Committee report, there has been an increase in suspension of students, especially in junior high schools and secondary schools. A student’s act of violating school rules is the reason he or she is suspended. Students are suspended for various reasons because schools are strictly enforcing their policies to benefit a better educational environment and students can learn from their mistakes. “With the 2008-2009 school year not due until August, the number of suspensions have already reached the 3,000 mark, according to the School Reform Committee report,” (Saipan Tribune). Schools with greater suspensions may show an improvement of how our school administrators enforce their school rules. The schools are actually striving for less suspensions and better student performance in school. There could be various reasons why suspensions have increased in the past couple of years. For example, there are more students with lack of discipline, parents are not being more responsible for their child’s behavior in different environments, or schools have different policies on how and why students should be suspended.

However, some do not agree with the increase in student suspensions. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, chair of the board’s School Reform Committee, says, “just by reviewing the data, abuses by principals and administrators were quite evident” (Saipan Tribune). It is evident that students who violate school rules should be suspended, although Galvin Deleon Guerrero says this is an abuse to the standards. It is blatant that Mr. Deleon Guerrero is jumping to conclusions based on his analysis. We cannot blame our school administrators for suspending students. It is reasonable that our schools are trying to promote a better learning environment, although with the help of parents it would definitely be easier to reduce the suspension rate of students in our public schools.

Joel B. Tudela
Dandan, Saipan

An article titled “Rampant student suspensions at PSS” was published on April 23, 2009 in the Saipan Tribune. In this article, Galvin Deleon Guerrero, the chair of the board’s School Reform Committee, was quoted saying that, just by reviewing the rate of suspensions, “‘abuses’ by principals and administrators were quite evident” and that “while overall student enrollment in all junior and high schools has remained constant, the number of suspensions has tripled in the past couple of years.” How can “abuses” by principals and administrators be evident, you ask? Here’s what Galvin Guerrero says: “Based on the data compiled and input gathered from a broad spectrum of PSS stakeholders. it is the belief that BOE regulation 2606 is not being followed as many students are being suspended without principals or their designees fully exhausting standard day-to-day corrective disciplinary measures.” What proof does Galvin Guerrero have that there is any “abuse” taking place in the schools? Guerrero did not take into account that the data he is basing his facts on may have flaws. The statistics could be wrong.

The blame should not be placed upon the school administrators for disciplining students with repetitive bad behaviors. If anything, the administrators are doing a great job on disciplining the trouble makers who run around the schools.

Klynne Serrano
MHS Student

Mr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero has mentioned a lot of cruel things about the PSS administrators not following rules, and how suspension rates are abnormally rising for the past few years. And I quote, “Just by reviewing the data, “abuses” by principals and administrators were quite evident.”

I strongly believe that the PSS administrators and staff should not be blamed for such behavior. I believe that they should be congratulated for actually caring about the safety and cleanliness of the school and its students, as they punish those who violate school rules. It is not the staff’s fault if the students are incompetent, because it is their duty to keep students in line and to keep them from harm. PSS seems to have done quite the job after suspending over a hundred teenage troublemakers. This doesn’t seem like a bad thing, if students were not punished now and if they do not learn from their mistakes, even how small the mistake is, students would not be able to learn right from wrong.

But before I end this, I have a question for you, Mr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, wouldn’t you feel much safer in a place where the top dogs punished the criminals rather than in a place where the criminals roam around and spreading their chaos?

Maritoni Delos Reyes
MHS student

Galvin Guerrero has said that the Public School System has been abusing their authority of school suspension use. Marianas High School was one of the schools mentioned in an article in the Saipan Tribune on April 23, 2009. The Public School System should not be accused of abusing their authority. In fact, they should be praised at the fact they’re actually doing something about it. There are so many rules to be followed in the Public School System and, of course there are students who won’t want to follow those rules. Just the fact that the staff of our high schools are doing their job suspending students is a good thing.

Students are given a fair chance with a warning, and if they continue to do what is improper, they then are suspended. The staff is not abusing their use; they are just doing what they are supposed to be doing. They are doing their jobs.

Kay-Kay Constante