In an effort to quell the growing anger due to his extravagant new contract, Tucson Unified School District’s Superintendent H.T. Sanchez visited Davis Bilingual Elementary Magnet and University High School to let them know that he and his family will be making personal donations to programs at the schools during next Tuesday’s Governing Board meeting.
In what will surely be a public relations production, the Sanchez family will present Davis Elementary with a check for $7,000 for the P.E. program to help fund the remarkable work Coach Daniel Mejia does with the youth there. His position has been funded by the PTA.
Cameras will surely capture the family as they “present a check for $10,000 to UHS for the College and Career Center, where students gather for homework help, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or meet with college recruiters. The center was created by parents and has been funded through their efforts,” according to Public Relations Director Stephanie Boe in a Facebook message she posted for Sanchez.
According to the Facebook post, “The superintendent looks forward to supporting other endeavors within the district, such as Celebration of the Stars, a districtwide award ceremony for outstanding employees, in the weeks and months to come.”
Almost immediately after the message appeared on Facebook, questions were raised as to how Sanchez determined which schools would benefit from his big win. All of TUSD’s schools are facing money problems and teachers continue to by materials for their classrooms out of their own pockets.
Despite those hardships, a recent document request revealed that members of Sanchez’s leadership team are making between $111,000 to nearly $140,000 with an allowance of $8000 for expenses, and the potential to earn up to $10,000 in bonus monies.
Adelita Grijalva was overjoyed, she posted on Facebook in reponse: “Our Lito loves Mr.Mejia and has learned alot from him this summer. I’m glad Mr. Mejia will be returning to Davis next year so another generation of children will benefit from his instruction and carino!” Both Grijalva and Juarez have their children enrolled at Davis.
Board member Michael Hicks said he was disappointed that with so many deserving schools having experienced cuts, that the decision was made to only donate to select services. “Our teachers are buying supplies out of their own pockets in schools across the district, I have to wonder how many cartons of hand sanitizer, tissues, and pencils could have been purchased for our kids.”
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