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Back Local News Education Task Force meetings wrap up this weekend

Education Task Force meetings wrap up this weekend

Thursday, 05 Jul 2012 03:30am
BY LOUELLA LOSINIO | VARIETY NEWS STAFF
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ACCOUNTABILITY, communication, and staying true to the vision of the Guam Department of Education were some of the prevailing themes raised by community stakeholders at the Education Task Force meetings at the villages, according to Education Task Force Chairman Vincent Leon Guerrero.

“We talked about staying true to the overall vision of the education community, which is to prepare all students for life, promote excellence, and provide support. If we focus on the key word 'all,' then as the new superintendent said, the focus should be students,” Leon Guerrero said.

“If we looked at everything from a student-centered perspective, not the adult perspective, and then if we focus on education, the education of students as our primary objective, you will see that reflected in a lot of the recommendations. Overall, there is a general sense from parents and teachers that we need to do a lot of things differently and better,” he added.

The ETF meetings at the villages will wrap up this weekend with a final stop at the northern villages of Dededo and Yigo on Saturday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. So far, 16 villages have been visited by the Education Task Force teams in an effort to engage community stakeholders in the discussion about the governor’s education reform agenda.

Aside from providing a venue for discussing these reform strategies, the village consultations, according to the Governor’s Office, serves as a forum for the community to air other educational-related issues with any education official or board member in attendance.

In an earlier statement released by Gov. Eddie Calvo, he said the education agenda seems to be “isolated to the decision makers.” He further stated:“[The] education agenda must be a community agenda if it is really going to work.”

Comments  

 
+5 #1 Mathew 2012-07-05 04:03
Please stop this dog and pony show. Whether it is Vision 2001 as articulated by many educators who signed up to contribute to then Gov. Gutierrez's education policy initiatives, among other initiatives, or whether it is this administration's desire to "engage the community" on this issue, the truth of the matter is just as you cannot legislate morality you cannot legislate better education outcomes. The U.S. has been trying that for decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations and senators from across the aisle, but educational outcomes have always been about average. America always makes up for the education deficit through immigration, even if it does not like to admit it. So too, does Guam. Who does the work, technical, in the private sector? They are largely folks from RP and the mainland while native folks tend to gravitate toward the public sector where those higher-paying jobs are nestled.

Or let me pose this question: If there are more senators with formal, terminal education degrees does that correlate to more desirous education outcomes? If so, then having more doctors and dentists in the Legislature would also deliver more desirous health outcomes. The problem: There is a moral courage deficit, nothing else. Yet another example: There is no need to have engineers in the Legislature to "inspire" folks to study engineering. Education is 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration, especially these days with 'open source' learning.
 

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