BOE tables agenda, proceeds with commissioner evaluation amid outage

The CNMI State Board of Education tabled nearly all items in its special meeting last Feb. 19 due to an island-wide power outage, proceeding only with the performance evaluation of Education Commissioner Lawrence F. Camacho in executive session.

Board chair Maisie B. Tenorio said the decision was made to ensure public access and compliance with the Open Government Act.

“Given the island-wide power outage, we have decided to table some of the more critical items for another day so that we can ensure that the public has full access to the meeting,” Tenorio said.

“We were able to connect to a generator so that we could open up Zoom and still livestream to YouTube, but we also recognize that not everyone in the public might have access given the lack of power,” she added.

“So we want to be in full compliance with the Open Government Act and ensure that the public has full access to our agenda items.”

She clarified that only one item would move forward.

“Everything on our agenda is tabled except for the commissioner’s evaluation, which we will do today in executive session,” Tenorio said.

Tenorio said the board would recess and announce at a later date when it would reconvene.

The board had been scheduled to discuss and possibly act on the implementation and enforcement of the Supreme Court slip opinion interpreting the 25% general revenue requirement.

Other items on the agenda included a FY 2026 budget revision and retention incentive policy proposal for the Head Start/Early Head Start Program; a proposed four-day school week for School Year 2026-2027; Title I site-based decisive teams; participation in the Micronesian Islands Forum Regional Education Summit; CNMI long-term resident employment authorization document matters; adoption of the SARC coordinator’s standard operating procedures as board policy; CLO Report No. 2026-19-01; and several board resolutions, including measures disallowing micromanagement by individual board members, waiving alleged wrongdoing by any individual board member, officer eligibility during initial service for new board members, and staff contract renewals.

The agenda also listed executive session items such as legal counsel updates, a Public School System employee grievance dating to 2018, and other matters, in addition to the commissioner’s performance evaluation.

Asked about public school operations amid the outage, Tenorio said campuses remained open.

“Yes, they’re open,” she said. “So long as the campuses have water, running water, many of them, I think all of them are open. The commissioner will be issuing out statements if changes are going to be made throughout the day.”

“I think we’re monitoring the power situation. So hopefully by 10 o’clock, we’ll have a clearer picture of when power will be restored, and then stakeholders will be notified at that time.”

On whether schools have generators, she said, “Not all from my understanding, but that’s a question for the commissioner.”

“Luckily, it’s a cool day. Hopefully, everybody stays cool throughout this issue with the power,” Tenorio added.