Last week, I talked about how teacher hiring and teacher certification should be returned to the Guam Department of Education. If charter school teachers seem to do fine without the certification maze, why put our new college graduates through the hoops imposed by an external commission?
There are better alternatives that should be considered. As I have said in other columns, I believe the governor should use the Guam Organic Act reorganization authority and totally revamp K-12 education.
In the draft Guam Constitution, education was supposed to be directed and coordinated by an education commissioner. I think that we should take a look at our options.
Few areas of policy on Guam are as vexing and problematic as education and health care. In the case of education, the real problem is that various ill thought laws over the years have sliced and diced education so much that the entire system is helpless.
There are simply far better ways to get better results, but our elected leaders do not seem to know where to even start on real improvements. Instead, they concentrate on reactions to the flavor of the day.
The University of Guam and Guam Community College are supposed to be autonomous. Both of these institutions are public corporations and operate differently than other government agencies. The laws that govern these two institutions make this clear.
For example, in the case of the university, 17 GCA 16111 contains a c. 1988 “Construction with Other Laws” provision. This section means that the university can be managed as a university. Unless the Legislature specifically ties the university to a particular type of legislation, the provision does not apply.
Every year, there are pieces of legislation that specifically include the university. For example, the Open Government law and the Freedom of Information Act requirements apply to UOG. Other parts of our laws do not and for good reason.
At UOG and GCC, conditions and boundaries are simply different. Both institutions have fully staffed maintenance divisions that keep the campuses maintained. Both institutions have fulltime staff that also keep the facilities clean on a daily basis.
Both UOG and GCC have nationally and regionally linked higher education level accreditation standards to follow and both are in good standing. Unlike public K-12 schools, both institutions have accreditation-based complaint processes that students and employees can use to remedy problems.
Last week, I was told that I could not keep books or files in cardboard file boxes and I could not have an air freshener in my faculty office. I asked why, and I was told that there is some sort of rule that exists somewhere on this. I decided to visit the Department of Public Health and Social Services and the Legislature’s Guam Congress Building to ask about this. I saw cardboard boxes and air fresheners all over the place.
It looks like the rules that were listed may not apply to the university. Even if they do, they should not. Both UOG and GCC should be allowed to run themselves.
(1) comment
The Adequate Public Education law authored by dear Bob Klitzkie is unworkable and impractical for varying reasons, most notably the financial constraints and the advent of new technologies that negate the need for this level of 'adequacy.' The new Chair of Education has to be bold in executing change legislatively.
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