Paul Hadik (Audio)
/TFB members Charity Irons and Mae-Stephanie Narruhn interview Paul Hadik, the acting president and CEO of PREL and the former principal of Chuuk High School. The interview was conducted in Chuuk and the focus of the discussion is Chuuk's education system.
Paul Hadik - "Mr. Paul A. Hadik serves as Acting President and CEO at PREL, providing leadership and direction to for operational functions and programmatic work. Hadik previously served as a Consultant with Graduate School USA, strengthening Chuuk Department of Education’s reform processes, Principal at Chuuk High School, Director of the Kosrae Department of Education, and Principal of Kosrae High School. For the past 20 years, he has led or advised numerous quality-setting, and school improvement initiatives." (PREL)
Noteworthy quotes:
- Response to former Chuuk High School vice principal, Andrew Shelton's resignation letter.
"I think the first thing is, is what he said true? Everything he said was true. I think he was very very frustrated, because as an outsider he came here and worked very very hard for several years to try and improve Chuuk High School and Chuuk young people. And he didn’t understand why people in the department of education were fighting what he was trying to do. What we were trying to do. which was being successful. so when he left, and again he left because his rent wasn’t being paid for. When he left he felt that [he] wanted people to know and since [he] wasn’t related to a lot of people it’s easier sometimes for an outsider to say it. So even though I wouldn’t have done it that way because I’ve lived out here forever I think it’s good that everything he said needed to be said. The question is has it brought about any change? I’m not sure that that’s happened. But I appreciated everything he had to say it was all true. "
- One of Chuuk's biggest problems in education.
“The issue in Chuuk is that we have 74 schools. We can’t get enough teachers for those schools… we have 2 or 3 teachers teaching kindergarten to 8th grade.”
- Ideas for improving the salary for Chuuk's teachers.
"… let’s not have as many schools. instead of 70 schools, let’s get about 35 bigger schools. And we could pay teachers at that rate $20,000 a year as a teacher… $20,000 in Chuuk is a lot of money.”
- How the internet can improve Chuuk's education system.
“… at Chuuk High School all of our classrooms are wired for internet. We have the highest speed. We have almost 500 computers up there right now. We are probably the most technologically advanced school in the entire FSM. We were looking at setting up a system where we could stream our classes out to the other high schools in Chuuk who are having a hard time getting teachers… not only do I believe in the internet I believe that’s what can solve the problems we face here and we’d be the first people in the world doing this.”