In national headlines, CNMI Congressman Gregorio Sablan questioned U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on the state of schools across Micronesia. He pressed the secretary on what the government plans to do to bring students back to campus with the support they need in-person.

CNMI Del. Gregorio Sablan one on one with education secretary Miguel Cardona at a recent U.S. House Education and Labor hearing.

"I have a growing interest why for example Guam and the USVI have been placed on high risk for a decade or more and trying to find out and understand why, despite the effort that I know, at least for Guam they continue to be placed on this situation," Sablan said.

He and members of Congress examined the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Education. His question comes on the heels of a recent visit to Guam by federal education officials who discussed the matter. The feds designated GDOE as a high-risk grantee in September 2003 because of poor management and spending of federal funds. It forced the island's largest school system to hire a costly third-party fiduciary oversight to ensure GDOE is managing and spending federal dollars properly.

Regionally, Sablan shared that the department approved $24 million worth of a supplemental education grant for the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia.

"It is important that we the U.S. keep its commitments to the freely associated states," he said.

Sablan also pressed the secretary on what the government will do to help schools bring students back and make up for lost time.

"Short term as you mentioned the ARP provided funds where districts can use the money to reengage families," he said. "I have seen so many creative uses of the ARP dollars. In Nevada, they created a team of parent liaisons to go out into the community, to help families reengage. In many cases, these students were also dealing with housing insecurity. and food insecurity."

In the long term?

"We're asking in our proposal for full-service community schools," Sablan said. "Those schools that did a better job in re-engaging students were the schools that had a health center located there, that had access to food pantries for the students who are hungry, that had access to technology tools so students can be connected at home, and who had mental health support for students that were better developed for other schools."