A review of the Northern Marianas Technical Institute\u2019s students, staff, curriculum, and organizational structure is \u201clooking good,\u201d according to a representative from the National Construction Center for Education and Research who visited NMTI last month for possible accreditation of the school.<\/p>\n
Herbert \u201cBert\u201d Johnston Jr., who is the education director of the Guam Contractors Association Trades Academy and is a sponsor representative and master trainer for the NCCER, said his site visit last July 19 to 22 showed him that NMTI is filled with \u201ca lot of people that are extremely dedicated to what they\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with Johnston last July 22, he said he was actually involved with the formation of NMTI itself during the time of late businessman Anthony Pellegrino, and said that he gave Pellegrino advice at the time on how to make a trade school on Saipan a reality. Given NMTI\u2019s recent changes in management, Johnston said he met with NMTI staff and NMTI\u2019s board of trustees during his July 19-22 visit to speak again about the advice he gave to Pellegrino and to discuss NMTI\u2019s options moving forward. He also updated NMTI\u2019s staff on NCCER\u2019s recent transition to fully-online testing, reviewed a large portion of NMTI\u2019s classes for NCCER accreditation, and performed an audit of the trade school.<\/p>\n
When asked for his outlook on NMTI in its current state, in his capacity as an NCCER representative, Johnston first made clear that the NCCER\u2019s main intention is to see trades programs improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job is not to be condescending and say, \u2018You need to get to these standards.\u2019 Our job is to help improve. \u2026We\u2019re just saying here\u2019s a couple of issues you may want to pay attention to, these are a couple of corrections you may need to pay attention to. …But for the most part I haven\u2019t seen any of that [with NMTI],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As far as the people that NMTI is currently built around, Johnston was very pleased with what he saw. \u201cIt\u2019s looking good. …I have found a lot of people that are extremely dedicated to what they\u2019re doing here, and [they] have huge potential in making this place a great place,\u201d Johnston added.<\/p>\n
NMTI\u2019s board of trustees appointed Jodina Attao as NMTI\u2019s interim chief executive officer last March 20. The school\u2019s slated reopening on Aug. 18 after closing last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as NMTI\u2019s other ongoing and future initiatives, have all taken place under the watch of Attao in recent months.<\/p>\n
The NCCER is a not-for-profit education foundation created in 1996 that provides course accreditation and testing services for thousands of trade schools and programs across the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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