Teacher representative Ambrose Bennett expressed his apologies to the Board of Education yesterday and offered to start out all over again, in a bid to create a smoother and more collegial relationship between him and the other board members.<\/p>\n
Bennett sent his apologies in a letter to the board that was read during the special board meeting yesterday at the Public School System office. Bennett was not present at the meeting due to a one-week training at Kagman Elementary School.<\/p>\n
Bennett said he is apologizing for any \u201cmisgivings\u201d between him and the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it is the right thing to do, if we are to ever end what has amounted to a remake of the Hatfields & the McCoys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the Attorney General\u2019s Office and the governor have made it clear that the board cannot remove him from the board. \u201cIt should now be clear that it is in the best interest of our students, teachers and the system for the board to make a legitimate effort to work with the teacher representative.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his letter, Bennett proposed a \u201cnew beginning\u201d with the board, so that they could start all over again. \u201cEven though I have never received an apology from this board, I will make the first apology for any misgivings between us because I know it is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he is glad to learn that the board is finally giving PSS teachers a spot on the agenda but added that the board\u2019s attempt to resolve the conflicts by requiring a report \u201cis not a complete solution because there is no burden of accountability placed on the board to address anything in the report.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, though, that he has no problem with a report\u2014only that the board should consider the teachers\u2019 and his concerns if the board truly wants to work with him.<\/p>\n
Bennett said the bases of all the complaints of the board against him were centered on his communications and statements in the news. \u201cBut my communications were all driven by \u2018true events\u2019 and my desire to effectively represent teachers. Sometimes the truth hurts and this board has always chosen retaliation over cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problems between the board and himself are not all his fault, he said. The board should also \u201cown up\u201d to its mistakes \u201cbecause it takes two to tango.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he also wishes to point out that he never said that the system or the board was bad. \u201cI have only pointed out some of the bad [and] ugly\u2026decisions by the board.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this board doesn\u2019t want me to write bad and ugly things in the news, then the board should allow me to be a part of the process in committee where I could state my position to the board during the decision process and avoid stating my position in the newspaper,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should agree that we disagree, respect each other and work to reach a compromise or the board will surely face the consequences in the coming elections\u2014not me. I\u2019m sure some of you will be in denial, but your attacks on me have only served to embarrass the board and to make me a more prominent and appreciated individual in our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The letter was read by board secretary Marja Lee Taitano. Nobody issued any reactions during the meeting, but Board of Education chair Roman Benavente said they will take up the matter during the Executive Session, which is off-limits to the public and the media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Teacher representative Ambrose Bennett expressed his apologies to the Board of Education yesterday and offered to start out all over again, in a bid to create a smoother and more collegial relationship between him and the other board members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92415","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}