Bill revoking teaching certificates for misconduct under review
All across the United States, professionals are held to higher standards both in and out of the office.
December 30, 2014Updated: December 30, 2014
By KUAM News
By KUAM News by Isa Baza
Guam - Bill 420, a new mechanism to revoke teaching certificates from those who commit crimes and other serious misconduct, is before the governor. All across the United States, professionals are held to higher standards both in and out of the office. Doctors, lawyers, even accountants have to abide by certain codes of conduct or else face possibly losing their professional licenses.
In the mainland, teachers are also held to this standard; however, in Guam this is not the case. Speaker Judi Won Pat, longtime educator who introduced Bill 420, told KUAM News, "A person can commit a crime, serve time, and then come right out, because he or she would have a certificate for ten years let's say, and take that certificate and go right into an educational institution."
Bill 420 looks to correct this gap by providing a process by which teachers who have been accused of committing illegal acts or serious acts of misconduct can then be investigated by the attorney general's office. After due process, if the individual is found guilty, then their teaching license would be revoked. "It must be signed and notarized, validated and investigated by an assistant attorney general," she continued to explained. "It's not to just be totally decided by the commission members. So there is definitely a process and that was provided by the attorney general's office to make sure that we do not violate any individual's rights."
Lea Santos, director of the Guam Commission for Educator Certification, said, "We have nothing to do with their personal life, what we're doing is making sure the children are safe, I mean what they do in the classroom, what they do at school functions, is what our concern is, not what they do in the middle of the night."
Santos emphasizes that the ultimate goal here is the protection of our island's children. Youth spend most of their waking hours at school, and so there must be precautions taken to keep them safe. "Misconduct occurs everywhere, Guam is no exception. Generally, most of our teachers, our educators are good people, but there are a few bad apples that we have to deal with and that's a reality we cannot run away from," she said.
Bill 420 looks to hold teachers in Guam accountable to professional codes of conduct both in an out of the classroom, just as any other professionals here on island.
The Guam Federation of Teachers is reaching out to Governor Eddie Calvo to veto Bill 420 and send it back to the Guam Commission for Education Certification. According to a release by GFT it states that a true public hearing was not held on the measure. Bill 420 addresses educator professional conduct and although changes were made with GFT input prior to being passed "There were still a number of items that were not changed that can create problems for educators." GFT is asking all educators holding a certification to reach out to the governor for his support on the veto.
Meanwhile KUAM spoke with the governor on the bill today, he said it was still being reviewed by his legal team.
Guam - Bill 420, a new mechanism to revoke teaching certificates from those who commit crimes and other serious misconduct, is before the governor. All across the United States, professionals are held to higher standards both in and out of the office. Doctors, lawyers, even accountants have to abide by certain codes of conduct or else face possibly losing their professional licenses.
In the mainland, teachers are also held to this standard; however, in Guam this is not the case. Speaker Judi Won Pat, longtime educator who introduced Bill 420, told KUAM News, "A person can commit a crime, serve time, and then come right out, because he or she would have a certificate for ten years let's say, and take that certificate and go right into an educational institution."
Bill 420 looks to correct this gap by providing a process by which teachers who have been accused of committing illegal acts or serious acts of misconduct can then be investigated by the attorney general's office. After due process, if the individual is found guilty, then their teaching license would be revoked. "It must be signed and notarized, validated and investigated by an assistant attorney general," she continued to explained. "It's not to just be totally decided by the commission members. So there is definitely a process and that was provided by the attorney general's office to make sure that we do not violate any individual's rights."
Lea Santos, director of the Guam Commission for Educator Certification, said, "We have nothing to do with their personal life, what we're doing is making sure the children are safe, I mean what they do in the classroom, what they do at school functions, is what our concern is, not what they do in the middle of the night."
Santos emphasizes that the ultimate goal here is the protection of our island's children. Youth spend most of their waking hours at school, and so there must be precautions taken to keep them safe. "Misconduct occurs everywhere, Guam is no exception. Generally, most of our teachers, our educators are good people, but there are a few bad apples that we have to deal with and that's a reality we cannot run away from," she said.
Bill 420 looks to hold teachers in Guam accountable to professional codes of conduct both in an out of the classroom, just as any other professionals here on island.
The Guam Federation of Teachers is reaching out to Governor Eddie Calvo to veto Bill 420 and send it back to the Guam Commission for Education Certification. According to a release by GFT it states that a true public hearing was not held on the measure. Bill 420 addresses educator professional conduct and although changes were made with GFT input prior to being passed "There were still a number of items that were not changed that can create problems for educators." GFT is asking all educators holding a certification to reach out to the governor for his support on the veto.
Meanwhile KUAM spoke with the governor on the bill today, he said it was still being reviewed by his legal team.