The final meeting of the Gonzales-era Sunnyside Governing Board will be held tonight, and District watchers are expecting a big show. Board members Louie Gonzales and Bobby Garcia were recalled by voters earlier this month in a landslide election.
Beki Quintero and Eric Giffin handily beat the two embattled incumbents. They will be sworn into office after the election results are certified by the Pima County Board of Supervisors at their June 2, 2014 meeting.
Speculation remains as to whether the Board will vote to buyout Isquierdo’s contract. Agenda item “h” reads: “Discussion or consultation for legal advice with the attorney or attorneys of the school district related to the Superintendent’s Contract and items referenced in personnel Executive Session mentioned in A.R.S. 38-431.03(A)(1).” There is no precise mention of a buyout, although the “unfinished business” agenda item leaves room for speculation that the Board might revisit Isquierdo’s request this month that the Board buy him out before Gonzales and Garcia leave.
Isquierdo has also requested that his 2013-2014 Performance Compensation Goal be a topic of discussion in Executive Session. To view the agenda click here.
Earlier this month, Isquierdo asked the Board to buy him out of his contract after it was revealed that he has used questionable statistics upon which to base his claim that under his leadership graduation rates had gone up. Crouch pointed out that Isquierdo had actually used lower numbers as a baseline rather than the actual number of 2007 graduates. Isquierdo also used raw numbers and not percentages to calculate the graduation rate increase. Because the District has grown in size, the number of graduates has increased during his tenure, but the percentage is actually only an increase of about 2.5 percent.
The lone remaining member of the Gonzales crew, Board president Eva Dong, has placed item “e” on the agenda. It reads: “Update on the “Governing Board’s Request for an Apology and Correction of Statements on Graduation Data made by Mr. Crouch.” Dong also wants the Board to discuss the Open Meeting complaint filed by board members Buck Crouch and Daniel Hernandez.
According to sources, Isquierdo and the majority of the Governing Board regularly violated Open Meeting laws, and the latest claim stems from the fact that Gonzales, Garcia and Dong attended a school district administrator’s summit in July.
That would be a violation of Arizona’s open Meeting laws which prohibit a quorum of board members meeting without public notice given at least 24 hours in advance.
”In the complaint, Crouch claims Superintendent Manuel Isquierdo directed district spokeswoman Mary Veres to invite three board members while purposely excluding Crouch and Daniel Hernandez Jr., who are his biggest critics,” according to the Arizona Daily Star. “At the summit, Isquierdo introduced Gonzales, Dong and Garcia, who voted to extend the superintendent’s contract, as “the ones that could be trusted,” according to the complaint.”
Gonzales, Garcia and Dong could be trusted to go along with even Isquierdo’s most outrageous schemes and shams.