A Chance to Support the Manta Band

Saipan Southern High School's Manta Ray Band is heading to NYC to perform at Carnegie Hall for the New York International Music Festival. They won the right to be on stage through their audition. But now they are desperately trying to raise the funds needed for the trip.

Come have fun and help them! This Saturday.



You can pledge for the band members joining the fun run (either by dollar amount or by the laps they run). [I'd be happy to take pledges! I know several of the students. Checks are made payable to SSHS with a notation in the memo part for Manta's Carnegie trip.]

You can come to the evening festival and spend your pocket money.

Please take this opportunity to help!


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We've been having perfect weather, but just now it's gone grey and looks a bit stormy. The bouganvillea is stunningly bright and beautiful, in full flower. There is plumeria in blossom and even a few Flame Trees already starting to show orange flowers.
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Addendum: If you'll be in New York City during April 2010, you might be interested in seeing the Manta Ray Band on stage at Carnegie Hall. Here's what I've found out about tickets, which are AVAILABLE NOW:

Performance Date – April 20, 2010
Performance Times! – 2:00pm EDIT: 8 PM show, but Manta Band will NOT be performing then.

Location – Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall

Cost – 2:00pm Adjudicated Performances - Ticketed but free of charge, obtain tickets at Carnegie Hall Box Office

Cost – 8:00pm Showcase Concert - $20.00 per person, obtain tickets at Carnegie Hall Box Office


How to get Ticket – Obtain tickets at Carnegie Hall box office
Box office info – http://www.carnegiehall.org/

Carnegie Hall
57th Street & 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10019

Tickets released – February 15, 2010

258. The Difference Good Leadership Makes

We can simply look at the photos on the front page of the Marianas Variety on August 13th and 14th to see what a difference good leadership and quality management makes.

Kagman High School opened in January 2002. It now looks like this:
Photo by Mark Penaranda for Marianas Variety

Complaints of leaking roofs in 60% of the classrooms! I've heard complaints that the walls are riddled with betelnut stains, too.

And they need good teachers... The news article is silent about how many of the teachers at KHS have made the grade (passed PRAXIS, gotten "highly qualified" ratings). But it does tell us that the student-teacher ratio right now is at 37:1 (with last year's ratio being 33:1).

When the power goes out, they'll be relying on a bio-diesel back-up generator, paying for that fuel. How many classrooms will that power up?



But compare and contrast: Saipan Southern High School opened half a year later, in August 2002.

Photo by Mark Penaranda for Marianas Variety

They have no serious concerns about the physical state of the school because they have a good maintenance program. The campus is clean and well-maintained, and the students are required to be respectful of the physical plant.

There's the possibility of learning, too. 26 of 29 teachers are highly qualified. Student-teacher ratio is 24:1.

And looking ahead to power outages, SSHS will have windmill power available in approximately November, saving on the cost of utilities.



So now all we need is for the Board of Education to figure out what it did right at SSHS and what it did wrong at Kagman High School.

My take:

The PSS BOE needs to empower its principals and resist the temptation to micro-manage. Because when it allows GOOD principals to act, as at SSHS, the situation works to the benefit of all.

But the BOE also needs to stop the politicking in appointments of principals (and the Commissioner?). And when a principal fails, as obviously is the case in Kagman High School since it's opening in 2002, the BOE needs to demote that person and put in someone who can do the job.

Our students all deserve good schools like SSHS. And if SSHS can do it, there's no excuse for any of the others.