After leading the island’s largest school system for nearly a decade, Jon Fernandez will be resigning from his role as superintendent for the Guam Department of Education, which will go into effect July 15.

Not to run for public office, not because he was forced to resign by the Guam Education Board, and not because of a recent incident, Fernandez clarified Monday with media partners during a live press conference that he intends to leave GDOE to focus on family matters.

"It’s a decision that I’ve been … over for maybe up to a year but really became a reality due to just recent events having to do with my family, and making choices about what we want to be doing in the next chapter of our lives," he said. 

Fernandez turned in his resignation on Sunday, May 1– citing Section 9.2 of his employment contract, which requires a minimum of 60 days of written notice prior to the intended termination of employment with the island’s largest GovGuam agency.

Heading the island’s public education system through some dark times, Guam Education Board Chair Mark Mendiola, who has been working with Fernandez for the last five years, thanked and highlighted some of the challenges encountered during his tenure.

"We’re grateful for his service to our island community as the superintendent of education. He served admirably for 10 years," he said. "He navigated through some really tuff situations within the Department of Education, he saw us through this pandemic, he also saw us through some of the toughest financial conditions put on any Department of Education."

In Fernandez’s resignation letter addressed to Mendiola states, “as I complete my tenth year of service at the helm of the Guam Department of Education (GDOE), I also believe that the time must come for new leadership to build upon the progress made and to take the department to the next level of achievement and improvement. Our children deserve this.”

GEB member Ron McNinch, a college professor for nearly three decades and who sat on several boards, commended Fernandez’s leadership.

"I have never worked with a more professional and highly qualified person than Jon Fernandez in terms of just being the total real deal for that job," he said. "Of course, he is going to be absolutely missed but I have to say also I’ve never been more impressed by a leader in a major organization for Guam than Jon Fernandez," he said. 

Fernandez was the first elected to the board of the Council Chief State School Officers from Guam. Among his many accomplishments, he also worked diligently to get the department out of the high-risk status with the U.S. Department of Education in regards to managing federal funds, which was placed upon GDOE in 2003.

As KUAM News reported, U.S. DOE officials will be doing site visits this year to lower the high-risk status of GDOE, which means the removal of the third-party fiduciary.

Simon A. Sanchez High School Marine Biology Teacher Melaine Blas, who was also the Guam Teacher of the Year in 2015, shared the same sentiments as well as noting what she’ll miss about Fernandez.

"He’s so supportive and he’s very approachable, and he’s friendly and down to earth," she said. "He was a superintendent that you can talk to and he would listen and would help you and he’d be patient and he wasn’t mean to people. He wasn’t intimidating, the way he worked with people, he made me want to do more, he made me strive to be better and he’s made me want to work harder and I just never want to wanted to disappoint him. I just want to say thank you to Mr. Fernandez for being such an amazing superintendent, and his leadership has taken us through a lot– the pandemic, the dengue fever, there’s been a lot of tribulations and trials and challenges that he’s been through and he stuck with us and kept leading us and I think he led us in the right direction and I wanted to say thank you for the time he gave us and for everything he’s done for us."

Fernandez, the longest-serving superintendent in the nation and in GDOE history, explained in his resignation letter some of the critical things he intends to get done before passing the torch, such as, “finalizing a higher pay proposal for teachers and staff, initiating the process to select the company that will build a new Simon Sanchez High School, bringing this school year to a successful end so we can celebrate our graduates, and working with the GEB on an effective transition prior to the start of School Year 2022-2023.”

In addition, Fernandez states in his resignation letter, "I want to thank the members of the GEB for your support and leadership. Thank you also to the many yard working and dedicated employees of GDOE as well as our families and community partners. Finally, I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the students of Guam... past, present and future."

The question stands: who will throw their hat in the ring to be the next GDOE superintendent?

GEB is discussing how to move forward with Fernandez’s resignation.