28 new graduates hired as classroom teachers

All 28 students who graduated Saturday from the Northern Marianas College with bachelor degrees in Elementary Education would be hired as classroom teachers beginning school year 2009-2010, or in September.

This was announced by Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan during Saturday’s 29th NMC commencement rites where she was the occasion’s keynote speaker.

“You all have a job after this moment,” she announced to the crowd, adding that the Public School System provides a competitive salary and benefit package.

From a starting annual pay of $30,000, the commissioner said the new teachers could be paid up to maximum of $47,000 as they enrich and enhance their capabilities as educators.

PSS currently has 519 teachers for its nearly 11,000 students from Kindergarten to 12th grade on all three islands.

By adding the new graduates to its workforce, PSS believes this will solve the ongoing lack of teachers in many schools that has resulted in overcrowding and large class size ratio.

Sablan said graduates in the early childhood certificate program could also assist and fill the many positions needed at public schools such as the related service providers.

Before becoming the education commissioner, Sablan has been a classroom teacher, vice principal, principal, and associate commissioner for instruction and curriculum at PSS, with more than two decades in the education industry under her belt.

She recalled that it was in 1979 when she pursued her journey of higher education in Nebraska, recalling how she started as a classroom teacher to elementary kids. When she retired, she said “my heart never left the classroom.”

“That’s something I cherish in my life,” she told the crowd.

For those who completed their certificate programs, Sablan encouraged them to invest in education and take the next step by enrolling for their degrees.

For those entering the workforce, the commissioner encouraged them to work and perform with passion and be realistic about what’s the real situation around them.

In deciding on their next direction, she said: “Consult not your feelings…but your hopes and dreams.”

New graduates Lourdes Liane Hart and Keoni DLG. Ichihara said they are excited to begin their “journey.” The two will join teachers at William S. Reyes Elementary School.

WSR Principal Lynnette Villagomez on Saturday said that five new teachers were recruited and hired from this year’s batch of graduates.

“All of them will start in the new school year at our school…so we’re excited to work with them,” the principal told Saipan Tribune.