Education Department’s deputy director of administration, Russ Aab has tendered his letter of resignation, which has since been accepted by Education Director Vaitinasa Dr. Salu Hunkin-Finau who told reporters that Aab wants to return to the classroom to teach mathematics.

Several years ago, Aab served as ASDOE’s grants manager, but later was transferred out from the main office to teach math at Fagaitua High School. Samoa News reported in April 2011 that Aab was returned to the main office by former Gov. Togiola Tulafono to “solve ASDOE financial woes due to problems with grant funding.”

 Aab was placed on a short-term contract and given the title of Deputy director of Finance and one of the main concerns for the Togiola Administration at the time was to address non-compliance, which had resulted in US Education Department placing ASG on “high risk” status. The high risk included ASDOE whose major federal grantor is USDOE, which also provides funding for other ASG entities such as the Department of Health.

Asked about Aab’s employment status during a news conference this week, Vaitinasa first pointed out that Aab “has made a great contribution to the department. As you know, historically, he was asked to return to the department, and was given the deputy director for administration” title, whose main function is to oversee ASDOE’s finances and some of the large projects— such as the School Lunch Program, Special Education, “and anything dealing with large amounts of money.”

She said Aab “has expressed his desire to return to the classroom and he made it more so, when he shared with me that by the beginning of the new school year, he would like to go back to teaching.”

“Russ is on contract and he submitted his resignation, [which] will be effective sometime this month. But I’ve requested that he stay on until a new person comes in to fill the post,” Vaitinasa said. “He has kind of agreed to that, but has submitted his resignation; I’ve accepted his resignation because that’s where he wants to be— a teacher.”

“He is a fantastic math teacher. He has taught math at Fagaitua High School for many, many years. And that’s kind of his dream, and we do need more people like Russ, after doing administrative work, who like to return to the classroom, and that’s wonderful,” she said.

The ASDOE director dismissed rumors circulating on island that Aab has resigned because, among other things, he and the director don’t work well together. “I want to share that this is something Russ has been talking about for the last two years, going back to teaching, and that’s the reason he has resigned and nothing else,” she stressed.

“I want to publicly express my appreciation for the work that he’s done at least since I’ve been on board. He’s done an excellent job in monitoring our finances, especially in terms of making sure that the [federal] Consolidated Grant application has gone in. And we’ve been very successful,” she said.

As to who will be Aab’s replacement, Vaitinasa said that the position has to be advertised, to make it fair for all possible qualified people to apply and be interviewed. “And we hope to get an excellent replacement for Russ. We’re talking about years of experience,” she said.

Vaitinasa acknowledged that one of the difficult jobs for the finance department at DOE is the Consolidated Grant, which is the bulk of ASDOE grant funding. She shared that ASDOE has “just received notice—we’re not sure and we’re still waiting— as to whether we have to reinitiate our initial Consolidate Grant application, which we submitted in May.”

The issue faced by ASDOE, she says, is that Jenell Leonard, who has overseen the grants for a long time, has retired and it’s taking some time for USDOE to hire someone else for the post. Vaitinasa said ASDOE’s Consolidated Grant was completed and in accordance with USDOE guidelines and regulations.

“Because there is a change in leadership at the USDOE that’s responsible for Pacific island territory’s grants, we received notice that we may have to resubmit the application— or the new leader may just say— ‘okay we’ll move forward and you’ll get your consolidated grant’,” she explained.

Vaitinasa pointed out that the Consolidated Grant, which is not a competitive grant, involves funds that are awarded based on, among other things, head count of students, and there are several programs that American Samoa is eligible for.

“For example, teacher quality is one area, community service is another area, class size reduction is another area… so there are different areas, different programs and they put them together and that’s why they call it a consolidated grant,” she said.

‘HIGH RISK’ STATUS

“I want to publicly express my appreciation to Russ and others who worked on the high risk. And the high risk (issue) was basically the management,” said Vaitinasa adding that it’s was not just ASDOE that was on high risk status,  “It’s the government system that’s at risk. ASDOE was at risk because of the lack of ‘a good data collection system and the reporting system’, she said. “ And then of course, the finances.”

She pointed out that ASDOE is not semi autonomous and “it has to go through the [ASG] centralized system. When we submit things in terms of financial matters, it goes through a system and if that system is not responding in terms of complying with federal guidelines, then we have a problem.”

“So during Russ’s time, he was instrumental in responding to the non compliant areas. And one of them was getting a data collection system,” she explained.

“As a result of the federal government requiring a good data system, we now have one of the best data systems in the Pacific,” she said, adding that the system is called, Longitudinal Data System (LDS). “So we have the best, what they call the “Cadillac” of data systems. It is one of the best.”

Asked if ASDOE will be able to recruit someone with Aab’s qualification, experience and knowledge to meet all these needs of the department - especially with resolving “high risk” status issues, Vaitinasa responded, “we will look for somebody that can replace Russ with the background and experience that he has; and who also the ability to communicate the uniqueness of American Samoa, in terms of the territory and this department as compared to the states in the US.”

Asked if it will be difficult for ASDOE to find Aab’s replacement, Vaitinasa replied, “I don’t think so. I think we have some very capable local people.”