Board of Education chair Herman T. Guerrero said Friday that he will seek another term in office in the upcoming November election. Two seats on the education board are up for grabs.<\/p>\n
Guerrero, whose four-year-term is expiring this year, is a voting member of the education board. He was first elected to the position in 2001, where he was also chosen as its chairman. <\/p>\n
If re-elected, this will mark Guerrero\u2019s fourth term in office. The two BOE seats up for grabs in this coming general election includes one for Saipan and another one for Tinian. Incumbent member Lucy Blanco-Maratita, however, has yet to announce plans whether or not she will seek another term.<\/p>\n
As the longest serving board member, Guerrero said he wants to do more for the islands\u2019 public school children.<\/p>\n
His greatest motivation to seek re-election, he said, is his only son, who currently a student at Saipan Southern High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a commitment that I told myself that as long as my son is in PSS, I want to show my full support to our education system,\u201d he said Friday during a break at a board meeting.<\/p>\n
Since joining the board 13 years ago, Guerrero cited significant changes and progress achieved by the Public School System. He said he\u2019d seen the remarkable turnaround of the system\u2019s quality of instruction and services.<\/p>\n
Among the specifics is the implementation of the common core standards, the accreditation works, the technology expansion, extensive professional development, the certification of staff, evaluation tools for all system personnel\u2014all contributing to the success of public school students throughout the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very proud of where PSS has been and where it is now. And as a board, I do believe that we\u2019ve done an excellent job for our students. One of the reasons I am seeking re-election is also to see a continuity of the commissioner\u2019s initiatives,\u201d said Guerrero, describing Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan as a \u201cvery passionate and focused\u201d leader for the school system.<\/p>\n
According to Guerrero, one of the huge successes noted at PSS is the offering of alternative education and the Lina’la Malawasch Academy\u2014programs that cater to at-risk youths and students to ensure that they complete high school.<\/p>\n
Guerrero said he fought for years to make it happen for students. He described these programs as \u201csafety nets\u201d for those who are struggling to finish high school on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, students in these programs are the real models because they made the choice to complete their high school despite being challenged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If he will be given a new mandate, Guerrero vows that he will continue that effort to bring more success to the system. For the chairman, technology now plays pivotal role in children\u2019s education. <\/p>\n
He also emphasized the need for PSS to \u201cthink outside the box\u201d to fulfill the high level of accountability and transparency expected of the system.<\/p>\n
When asked about his edge over any potential opponent to the post, Guerrero said: \u201cI still have the strong passion for education and I believe that every child regardless of who they are, they deserve a quality education. I am willing to stand up for education\u2026and I think I have proven myself when our people gave me their confidence all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Board of Education chair Herman T. Guerrero said Friday that he will seek another term…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[37,40,41,70],"class_list":["post-32347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-education-2","tag-pss","tag-public-school-system","tag-technology-2-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}