FLASHBACK – July 11, 2011

NMC may offer 4-year degree courses[/B]

The Northern Marianas College has expressed optimism that its School of Education would be able to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees after the Western Association of Schools and Colleges completes its accreditation of CNMI’s center for higher education in October. NMC Development and Alumni Relations Director Tony V. Deleon Guerrero said the college is currently gearing up for WASC’s scheduled visit three months from now. “We are focusing on our School of Education. If it gets accredited, we will now be ready to issue four-year Education degrees,” he said. The WASC team last visited the college in 1996 during which NMC was able to gain a six-year accreditation.

Responding to the governor’s clamor, the House Ways and Means Committee is looking into his proposal to change the current government utilities payment system in an effort to encourage departments and agencies to cut energy costs. Committee chair Rep. Antonio M. Camacho has asked the Department of Finance for a breakdown of utilities expenses for the executive branch, Legislature and the judiciary, to begin mapping out the much-needed revamp. This will be the major change to the FY 2001 budget proposal handed in by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio last April to the lawmakers for their approval, which is now the subject of a series of committee hearings in the lower house.

$303K earmarked for several projects[/B]

After much wrangling over allocations, the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation passed a bill yesterday appropriating $303,957 to fund several projects. The money, to be sourced from the fees collected by Saipan Local Law 11-2, will principally go toward improvement projects in several schools in the district and to buy equipment for the Northern Islands, such as seismographic equipment for the Emergency Management Office and boats. However, with so many projects and so little money to go by, the lawmakers were faced with a dilemma of how to divide the meager resources at hand, forcing them to readjust the original allocations set forth in House Local Bill 12-40.

Northern Marianas College students have shown growing confidence on NMC’s position as an effective educational institution, a locally-commissioned survey disclosed. One of NMC’s campus publications, Advising and Retention (July 15, 2001 issue), reported that students rate the NMC faculty as knowledgeable, available and approachable. The same survey also revealed that most of the students see the need to improve the teachers’ instructional methods. Respondents to the NMC-conducted survey said advisors and counselors communicate clearly and are easily accessible.

BOE approves $1.6-M for Head Start[/B]

The State Board of Education yesterday stamped its approval to a grant application that’s targeted to infuse $1.6 million in federal assistance funds to the Public School System Head Start Program, which offers comprehensive child development services to three- to five-year-olds from income-eligible families. Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos said the assistance will ensure the delivery of quality service in the area of Child Development and Health, Family and Community Partnerships and most importantly, the Program Design and Management of Head Start. The grant application has already been transmitted to the Department of Health and Human Services in San Francisco for processing.

And then there were four. The terms of two board of trustees members of the NMI Retirement Fund expired Tuesday, leaving just four of seven members sitting on the board. And while that still constitutes a quorum, another term expiration on July 31 would further cut down the number to three, which is not a quorum. Unless Gov. Juan N. Babauta acts soon to reappoint those members with expired terms or replace them with new appointees, the Fund’s board could be paralyzed and prevented from acting on several important policy decisions and projects. Fund legal counsel Kathleen Troy-Rucker said the terms of board chair Vicente C. Camacho and member David Hokin expired last July 9, while the term of member Rosita Santos will end on July 31.