That was not the only information withheld from Board members and the public about the hiring of Gomez. According to documents obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent, Gomez was not the highest scoring candidate for the job.
Now, TUSD Board member Michael Hicks is calling for the job offer to be reconsidered. Sources claim that Hicks has called for the matter to be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Board.
Documents show that two other candidates received higher scores. One of the two Timothy Grivois-Shah, was an assistant principal in Des Plaines, Illinois, and was named principal of Grijalva Elementary School. The other Debbee Gracia is listed as an assistant-principal in the Amphi School District.
According to the documents, six candidates are listed on the “Principal Pool” sheet. The top candidates listed were: Timothy Grivois Shaw, who scored a 20.75, Debbie Garcia, who scored a 18.75, Olga Gomez, who scored an 18.0, and Kathleen Knappenberger, who scored an 17.13.
Three candidates: Knappenberger, Garcia, and Gomez were interviewed for the Myers principal’s position on Thursday, June 4 by teachers.
While the District mysteriously did not turn over all documents related to the teachers’ interviews, sources say the teachers’ comments about Gomez were especially negative. One teacher wrote of Gomez: “not a chance.”
Debbee Garcia had many positive comments noted by interviewers such as “enthusiastic, “data driven,” and “go getter.” Garcia’s few weaknesses included “no experience as a principal,” and “too aggressive.” However, like Grivois Shaw, she appears to have experience as an assistant principal in the Amphi School District.
Kathleen Knappenberger was found to be a “data-driven,” “ team player,” whose sole weakness was that she was not bilingual. According to sources in the District, the principal position at Myers/Ganoung did not require candidates to be bilingual.
Olga Gomez had the shortest list of positives and the highest list of negatives. Among her positives were “familiar with Danielson,” and “experience as a principal.” Her negatives included “did not answer some of the questions thoroughly,” “ got off topic,” “too soft-spoken,” and “does not like to speak in public.”
On her application, Gomez left the “TUSD Relative” portion asking for the name and relationship of relatives, blank. She didn’t need to advise the District of the relationship because Sanchez was already communicating with her about a job with District after the two of them meet each other through Grijalva earlier in the year.
Olga Gomez resigned on June 24, 2014, as the principal of Palominas Elementary School in Hereford, Arizona, and was hired by her daughter-in-law and Tucson Unified School District Governing Board president Adelita Grijalva later that same day.
The Board voted 4-0, with Grijalva only recusing herself after the other Board members had voted. When asked facetiously by fellow Board member Krystal Foster, who was aware of the women’s relationship, why Grijalva recused herself, Grijalva smiled and said nothing.
Gomez, described as “brusque and difficult,” was surrounded by controversy while at Palominas. So much controversy in fact, that Grijalva told TUSD Board members in an email, that she kept their relationship secret from the public “because of the politicized environment there,” referring to the Palominas.
It was nepotism that was one of the primary reasons for the successful recall of two Grijalva cronies on the Sunnyside Unified School District Board this year.
In anticipation of the fall-out from the discovery of nepotism, Grijalva sent a message to fellow Board members. She wrote, “Mrs. Gomez is my mother-in-law. Sadly, because of the nature of this board, I felt like this information would negatively impact and eliminate the possibility of an unbiased evaluation of her as a candidate. On previous boards, having children and other family hired (with the obvious legal exception of spouses) was celebrated. Mrs. Gomez is an excellent administrator who should be judged by her merit and what she can bring to this district and NOT because her son married me.”
However, even though she did not receive the highest scores, her total score appeared to benefit from Grijalva associates. Abel Morado, who is a close associate of Adelita Grijalva and her father; progressive Congressman Raul Grijalva, gave Gomez very high marks on his score sheet as did Adrian Vega, Sanchez close friend and deputy superintendent.
Vega has had his own problems recently, and is rumored to be looking for another job, due to complaints made against him for sexual harassment.