The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board meeting on Tuesday night was high theater including award winning performances by Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, Board President Adelita Grijalva, and Board members Kristel Foster and Cam Juarez. However, it was unscripted appearances of the members of the public during the Call to the Audience that added the high drama.
The Call to the Audience was delayed in order to allow Dr. Sanchez to present his report to the Board. That report included videos of his decision to donate his bonus to University High School and Davis Bilingual as well as the presentation of oversized checks.
Board member Michael Hicks issued a statement explaining his refusal to participate in the performance. The statement read:
Over the years I have seen this board room used for every purpose under the sun. This is the public’s room not the public relations room.
From this dais, we are supposed to set policy in the best interest of the public based on the input we received from the public.
As someone, who has dedicated my life to public education, it is discouraging to see this room used for self-promotion rather than the promotion of our students.
I for one, will not participate in theater. The only theater that interests me, are the ones filled with our students performing to the best of their ability.
The publicity leading up to tonight’s big presentation has brought to light the fact that our recent efforts have been mostly for show. We are not governing these days; we are bit players in a badly scripted soap opera.
While we figure out how to outsource the jobs of janitors who clean this boardroom, some are using this this boardroom to clean up a public relations mess.
We need to spend our time trying to improve our schools, instead of improving our image. What has occurred here the past few weeks is wrong, and no amount of spinning will make it right.
As for the policy items on tonight’s agenda, in the past we have discussed these issues at open Board retreats. The issues are complex and require a very open, frank, and possibly lengthy conversation. They are not to be crammed through at the end of the meeting, in what appears to be an effort to act under the cover of darkness. I will not participate in a scheme to further disenfranchise the public from public education and the policies that guide its governance.
Marilyn Reiter, who identified herself as a mother of a child in the District told the Board during the Call to the Audience, “I’m just a bit amazed that for a public school system a contract has been put out there that has increased so much within a year. I don’t understand how the teachers’ raise in pay was $500, which seems very low for what they do — they are in the classroom.
“I noticed a lot of signs on the TUSD website about how there’s going to be cuts across the board, administration, here there — and yet we have given our superintendent a huge increase in salary,” continued Reiter. She questioned how Sanchez would handle having so much disposable income, “when he has said that people with disposable income are bigots.” She also questioned how “the District’s lawyer can try to silence Board members when they are our elected representatives?” She was quickly cut off by Foster, who told her that her time was up.
Mr. Brian Sauber called on Sanchez to resign during the Call to the Audience. He stated, “I have talked to many parents and teachers. You will lose more students and teachers next year. So go ahead and give bonuses. A recall is coming. The recall that everyone wants. I have never seen morale in this District so low, so save the taxpayers money and resign now. The way you handled the Audit Committee was disgusting,” said Sauber referring to the decision to remove watchdog members from the Committee, “the District has no oversight now. Ms. Grijalva should not be handling financial decisions when she is currently breaking campaign finance laws,” stated Sauber referring to Grijalva’s failure to file campaign finance reports. Sauber concluded, “The way the Open Meeting laws are being broken shows bad governance and lack of leadership.”
Lillian Foster, who has dedicated her life to the students of TUSD told the Board that she was surprised that they were not too embarrassed to show up to the Board meeting after granting Sanchez the lucrative contract. According to Fox, news reports about Sanchez’s contract were in accurate. She said that if all benefits were tallied his contract next year actually valued at over $499,000. Fox told the Board that with only a portion of the money they awarded to Sanchez, they could have bought textbooks for all middle and high school students. Fox reminded the Board that many students do not currently have textbooks. Fox also advised the Board that while Phoenix Union School District is smaller and is the only district in the state to receive more money than TUSD, Phoenix Union pays their superintendent considerably less, but pays their teachers nearly $15,000 more per year than TUSD.
Finally, Veronica Valentino addressed the Board. They seemed shocked as she advised them once again, that the District was falsifying student’s records in order to graduate them without educating them. The brave teacher stood before them and offered damaging testimony before being told by Foster that her time had run out.
So, on the same night he was awarded the Best Testifier award by the Arizona Capitol Times for his questionable testimony before the State Legislature, Sanchez, asked the Board to retaliate against a highly reliable whistleblower. According to sources, a majority of the Board agreed to do just that.
In a 3 – 2 vote, the Board also awarded a bonus for this year as well despite the fact that they were contacted by parents as to the failures of Sanchez’s administrative team to create sustainable funding streams. Sanchez said he would donate the $12,6000 bonus to Camp Cooper.
Although the District claimed that Sanchez’s goals align with the District’s strategic plan, one parent advised Board member Kristel Foster that, in the case of University High, Sanchez and his team had failed. “The UHS PA achieved its 2014-15 fundraising goals by radically reducing its goals from the prior year and not trying very hard,” according to the parent. As a result, the parent warned Foster that an award of the total bonus would prove to be an embarrassment later. The parent noted, “Any organization can set low or unprofessional goals for itself, or muddy the water about what the goals actually are, or scale back on the goals it had originally set for itself and then pat itself on the back for fulfilling them, but this is not, in my opinion, a valid way to conduct business. The purpose of involving constituents with professional expertise in a Strategic Planning process should be that the process will then create a document that can provide the organization with sound guidance moving forward. The purpose of publishing the Strategic Plan should be that it provides a public document to which all parties throughout the district — including administrators — can be held accountable.”
The Board also voted to give the teachers a small raise. The raise, as calculated by a Tucson blogger equals approximately $24 increase per paycheck (every 2 weeks). David Morales, writing on the Three Sonorans, notes “Now compare that to what a 24% increase means,” referring to Sanchez’s new contract. “For every $100 that Sanchez makes, he now makes $24 extra.”
Juarez gave Sanchez a t-shirt to commemorate his “Best Testifier” victory.
Related articles:
Sanchez Gets Big Raise, TUSD Subs Get Snubbed
Sanchez lobbies for Best “Testifier”