GUAM Department of Education Superintendent Jon Fernandez talked about seeing pockets of excellence in schools, promoting ownership of issues besieging the educational system, and promoting a problem-solving culture in education during yesterday’s Rotary Club of Guam luncheon meeting.

Fernandez, who recently marked his first month at the helm of GDOE, said with the right leadership in place, the right vision, the right commitment, and the right discipline expectations of the community around, education will be altered.

“You can actually turn the conversation back to what it needs to be, which is to be focused on the interests of our students,” he stated.

He also spoke about the Rainbow Graduation ceremonies held in Okkodo yesterday morning and how he commended the efforts of the students to complete their credits despite setbacks.

“You know, half of our kids, they start the 9th grade and don’t graduate. So you can imagine for these kids, it would have been easier to follow the rest of their classmates,” Fernandez said.

“There they were, some of them, one or two years later, celebrating their accomplishments. I was celebrating with them. I told them: 'I’m proud of you. It wasn’t easy to do this ... to go the extra mile for yourself, not for anybody else but for your own future ... to know that this piece of paper, this diploma, means something because without it you face tremendous hurdles.'”

However, he also stated: “I guess I’m not here to really celebrate today. I am here because I want you to know that ... I think we as adults are failing our kids. And we are failing them today.”

According to Fernandez, half of 9th graders, within the public school system, are not graduating. In addition, less than 10 percent who do graduate are proficient in math, reading or language arts.

Giving back

After working in Washington D.C. on education reforms and actively involving himself in the community, Fernandez said the opportunity came up for him to finally return to Guam.

“I’ve been enjoying the work back in D.C. The most frustrating part was – I have not been able to do that at home. This was just something that lined up and it felt right. To do what you want to do, in such an important area, back home,” he recounted.

He also described his first few days on the job and venturing out of the GDOE offices to actually set foot in schools. During the process, he said, he was able to get a sense of what is actually going on at the school level.

“When I came in, my commitment was to go into every school," Fernandez said. "By Friday I will have set foot in all of our 40 schools. What happens there is I take a tour of the facilities, of the grounds to take a look at the buildings and get a sense of the structure.

“During the summer class, I was able to sit down with kids – the high school kids – and talk to them. With the middle school students and the elementary school students, I watched them work through problems. And they are local students. Some of them are kids from the outer islands.”

In addition, Fernandez mentioned reaching out to the administrators, teachers and staff, and having two-way conversations on the challenges of each school as well as the current efforts being undertaken at the school level.

By doing so, he said, he was able to bridge the disconnection between the schools and the central office.

Pockets of excellence

Despite the current problems facing the school system, Fernandez said there “is a glimmer of hope.”

“I’ve seen very dynamic administrators, very dynamic teacher-leaders who are looking at every opportunity to move forward. They see the challenges but they are working to resolve these challenges. They don’t wait. They are not waiting for me. They are not waiting for someone else to save their school,” he explained.

He added: “They are working to make sure that the kids that come out of that school are ready for the next stage.”

Finally, he highlighted the need for the community to own these problems as well as move toward encouraging a problem-solving culture.

“We have to own this issue. We have to figure out ways on how we can work together to make a change.”

“I think in this particular moment in time, there is a lot of attention on education. ... I want to take advantage of the momentum we have now and try to build a foundation on how to move forward,” he said.