The Star’s Sunday editorial proclaims that TUSD should close more schools. Superintendent H.T. Sanchez disagrees — in the immediate future, anyway.
Sanchez begins his May 30 Team Member Update with the headline, “No Schools Closing — Rather, Schools Opening!” He acknowledges the school closing recommendation in the Efficiency Audit report created for the district by Gibson Consulting Group, but he says that’s only one of the options suggested by the study. “There is no need for any staff member or parent to fear that their child’s school will not open next year. Our goal is to build enrollment and be the best option in Tucson.” He pointed out that the district is moving in the other direction by reopening Brichta and Schumaker schools as early childhood education centers for children aged two to five.
It’s important to note, Sanchez only made the guarantee for next school year. No matter how aggressively TUSD pursues enrollment growth, it’s going to be a gradual process at best, and the issue of school closings will continue to be on the table. My recommendation to the district and the board is, now is the time to think about strategies to put unused space in schools to work in ways that will serve the children and the community. Sanchez showed he’s willing to think outside the box by creating the early education centers. That’s a very good start, but more needs to be done.
You can read Sanchez’s entire statement below.
No Schools Closing — Rather, Schools Opening!
In May of this school year, Gibson Consulting presented the TUSD Efficiency Audit in open session at a Governing Board meeting. Many great means for saving money to turn back to campuses and the classroom came from the report. There were also recommendations about how to do better work in human resources, operations, transportation, custodial, and maintenance, just to name a few areas.
What caught the media’s attention was the Efficiency Audit’s recommendation to close more TUSD schools. I want to be absolutely clear that this is a recommendation from the audit, not me.
I will not bring school closures to the Board as a means for saving money. I understand that some feel that this is my recommendation. Please know that it is not. To the contrary, we have opened two closed schools to serve as Infant and Early Learning Centers. Both Brichta and Schumaker elementary schools will reopen July 1, 2014 to serve the needs of TUSD team members’ children ages six weeks to five years and community members’ children ages two to five years.
We will host an open house for both sites and will report soon on those dates and times. You can also get more information about the centers, including an application, at www.tusd1.org/earlylearningcenter. Please encourage those seeking quality childcare to consider our centers. We will be offering top-notch service with affordable fees.
Again, I want to be as clear as possible in saying I will not recommend closing schools as an option to save money. There are pages upon pages of recommendations that we need to address before and beyond school closures. There is no need for any staff member or parent to fear that their child’s school will not open next year. Our goal is to build enrollment and be the best option in Tucson.
We have invested in smaller class size, moved support from central office to school sites, and allocated 4.8 million dollars to teacher salary adjustments over the next few years.
My mindset is one of investing in our schools, not closing them. I look forward to the start of a great year in July of 2014 and to our two newly opened Infant and Early Education Learning Centers at Brichta and Schumaker.
Let’s build TUSD, not close it down.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2014.
It is always an easy to take the cynical path.
I urge my fellow TUSD employees to get behind the new leadership. It takes time to turn the Queen Mary. (Just in case, let me point out that was a metaphor.)
Uh, did H.T. Sanchez really write this? It’s awkwardly written and doesn’t even sound grammatically correct, such as the *second* sentence,
“Many great means for saving money to turn back to campuses and the classroom came from the report.”
Really?
This is the sort of poorly written prose that readers stumble on and that high school english classes teach students to correct. So . . . what were the “many great means” that TUSD will use to save money besides closing schools?
It sounds like an advertising spiel when he says that TUSD will be offering “top notch services” with regards to a new preschool program, and when encouraging parents to keep their kids in TUSD as perhaps one day TUSD might be a good option.
TUSD can “pursue” enrollment growth, but the district hasn’t done anything to merit parents sending their kids to a TUSD school.
Of course H.T. can’t close schools next school year, that’s already been baked into the cake, but for the following school year they could close schools.
This ends with H.T.’s little comment,
“Let’s build TUSD, not close it down.”
Uh, this sounds like something an elementary school age child would write. It’s a nice little meaningless nothing, obviously TUSD won’t be “closed down”, but more schools will probably be closed in a couple years. You can’t just magically will for TUSD to start building more schools as enrollment shrinks.
H.T.’s response sounds both childish and patronizing, full of meaningless platitudes and possible fabrications as I kinda don’t believe H.T. when he says that there are “pages upon pages of recommendations that we need to address before and beyond school closures.”, wasn’t there a summary in this over-priced report that was published by H.T.’s friends in Texas? One of the people at this consulting group H.T. named as a reference when he applied to TUSD.
Would it be too much to have a superintendent who can display analytical and grammar skills above that of a 10th grader and whom doesn’t have a history of shady financial dealings with outside consulting groups? Seriously, the guy mentions no numbers and is just blowing hot air.
>>It is always an easy to take the cynical path.
I urge my fellow TUSD employees to get behind the new leadership. It takes time to turn the Queen Mary. (Just in case, let me point out that was a metaphor.)<< Most people would have given H.T. the benefit of the doubt, but Adelita Grijalva kinda railroaded through his appointment to superintendent of TUSD. It was unusual as there weren’t any other candidates and H.T. had the gall to ask that nobody else be interviewed if he was to be considered for the job, hence give it to me, but I don’t want to be seen applying and then not get it. All for a guy who has very limited experience. Then H.T., apparently unethically, *forced* the TUSD board to raise the amount of money he can spend, and he gave something like $90,000 to this consulting group in Texas which is made up of his friends, one of whom he used as a reference for the TUSD job. Adelita basically said there wasn’t, tongue-in-cheek, any impropriety, it was all just an immaculate coincidence. I guess if you’re uneducated you might take that at face value. So, H.T. is basically a spoiled brat who gets his way and bullies around the TUSD board, and wrote a very disturbing response to the very overpriced audit of TUSD in that it lacked specifics, was *very* immature and patronizing. This ain’t good. Put all that aside and you’ve got all the longstanding problems TUSD has had for decades: 1. Corruption at TUSD headquarters, such as equipment intended for the classroom being sold on street corners. 2. More money spent in administration at TUSD than any other school district in AZ. 3. Explicitly racist MAS classes which create a hostile learning environment for non-Latino students, and Latinos who don’t wish to participate in them. Adelita and MAS supporters kinda know that the classes are racist, but they don’t seem to care. 4. Lack of textbooks. Really, your kid might not have a textbook. Though if your kid is in MAS you get a novel full of fictional information, political propaganda, and racism against those not in “La Raza”. 5. Bizarre political battles with deseg lawyers who want to suck TUSD dry of money. 6. Substandard food programs.
I have parents who taught in TUSD, but then moved to Sunnyside as the attitude of teachers at TUSD is abysmal and corrosive in terms of teachers and students morale. Get over it TUSD, it’s not the Arizona Board of Education’s fault, the district has been taken over by political animals, namely Adelita Grijalva.
I’d be really hesitant to send a preschool age child to what may be a bare bones preschool program at TUSD. The best options are a Christian preschool or a Jewish preschool, (your child doesn’t need to be of either religious persuasion, and these folks have been doing this sort of work for decades.)
Non-Latino, or Latino students who are into science/engineering and/or college? I’d recommend going to Catalina school district and leaving TUSD. Not so sure about other school districts, but have heard good things about non-TUSD districts in Tucson.
Arthur, your multiple, very long comments put you in the general category of troll and hijacker. The comments move far afield of the subject I write about, which means others who want to comment are distracted by material that’s only tangentially related to the topic, and they tend not to carry on the discussion of the issues I present.
Your views are your views, and that’s not a problem, but when your comments limit others’ ability to carry on a focused discussion, you’re a destructive force. If you want to write on a variety of subjects, I suggest you begin a blog of your own and see if you can attract an audience for your writing. If you continue this practice in the comments section of my posts, I will consider removing some or all of your comments.
Wow! Threatening to delete comments because you don’t like them?! Have not heard of that in the Tucson Weekly? Is he violating ant TW Code?
Fraser,
No one suggested deleting comments because the comments were not liked.
I agree with what was suggested: deleting multiple comments by the same person that are off-the-wall and unrelated.
And now to the topic: I think it is a shame to hear and read about schools closing. I am heartened having a TUSD superintendent who is focused on creative ways to keep schools open.
I apologize if my posts were too long, or tangential for some. I was born in Tucson, went to TUSD, have kids in TUSD, volunteered at TUSD elementary schools in the past, have kids in the summer program at TUSD right now, and have first hand experience with the effect of past controversial programs at TUSD on the morale of all students, so of course I’m a “stakeholder” regarding what happens with TUSD now and in the future.
Arthur, I’m happy you didn’t take what I wrote as an insult or a put-down, because I didn’t mean it to be that. I truly value the commenters on my posts. I read every one of them, sometimes multiple times, and I’m happy to have people disagree, especially when they’re knowledgeable, because that adds to the quality of the discussion. I’ve often said, sometimes the comments are more interesting than my posts. I learn a great deal from them.
So here’s how I see the comments section. I choose a topic and write about it. When I write the last word, the unwritten words are, “Let’s discuss!” So long as the comments are not personally abusive and are related to the topic I’ve presented, that’s great, no matter what opinions people present. But when comments deviate too far from the topic, that tends to end the thread, sometimes before people have said everything they want to say.
In an effort to continue the discussion, the Arizona Daily Star reported that Sanchez will add two new administrators to central administration, with a combined salary cost for the two between $190,000 and $205,000. One to oversees student services, and one to oversee the curriculum. Sanchez says that he doesn’t “expect” that the new positions will cost TUSD money, but they haven’t announced what positions will be axed.
TUSD spends more per student on administration than probably any other school district in Arizona, and if TUSD spent what other schools districts spent, it would save something $9-$11 million per year, remember that TUSD just closed a lot of schools to save $5 million per year.
I just think that TUSD’s central administration is not doing as much belt tightening as they should be required to do.
Supposedly, TUSD will cut class sizes to a maximum of 27 students per teacher, but I’m skeptical.
I have been reading articles and opinions on TUSD for many years, especially since becoming a “stakeholder” in the district, when I became a teacher eight years ago.
In general, the media and the public commentary have never been focused on the positive aspects of what is going on in the district. Should it be a big surprise that the AZ Daily Star jumps right to the conclusion of school closures, and their inevitability? It has been heart-breaking watching neighborhood schools close, and it is easy to blame poor management and over-extension on the part of the district.
But let’s face it: Public opinion, downturns in public education spending, and the growth of private and public charter schools have certainly not helped. There is also the demographic fluctuations, the “aging neighborhoods” that decrease the enrollment in many areas across the city.
Open-enrollment options have helped to a degree, but with the Unitary Status Plan mandates calling for necessary diversity in the public schools, it is not a mystery that this will cause a need for consolidation. I think H.T. Sanchez is the first leader we’ve had in some time who has come up with some real, creative solutions.
I may work for TUSD, but I’ve not always been a fan of the decisions made at the top. Now, I think it is time we give them the benefit of the doubt, and that everyone who cares about a truly free and public education rally to support moving forward, rather than rehashing the past.
In the Gibson report, there is a recommendation to close 9 elementary schools and 2 high schools to save $30 million in five years, so there will probably be more closings down the line, maybe not next year, but probably in 2-3 years. A decade-ago TUSD got 80% of the school-age kids within their boundaries, now it is at 66%, and it will drop to 60% in a decade, so the loss of about 4,500 students over a decade.
More than just some poor decisions being made by central administration, there’s been gross mismanagement for many years, and an excessive percentage of dollars spent on central administration vs. the classroom. Realistically, from an emotional/psychological standpoint, given the recent closures and money wasted on the top-heavy bureaucracy, most of the community probably isn’t in a the frame of mind to give TUSD the benefit of the doubt.
For TUSD to gain students back, they’d need to cut the central administration budget and put more money into the classroom, and adopt a 21st century curriculum. If they cut central administration’s budget, they could easily decrease classroom size and give every student a laptop and iPad and bring technological innovation into the classroom.
TUSD has a bad habit of jumping back and forth between extreme and simplistic solutions to complex problems. The Pedicone administration’s drive to close 25-30 schools was excessive, unjustified by any realistic analysis, and rightly rejected by the board. On the other hand, taking closures completely off the table, immediately after paying for an expensive efficiency audit that we said would require “hard choices,” is also too extreme. In particular, TUSD has never closed a major high school even though high schools are expensive to run and TUSD has tremendous excess capacity at that level. In the last two rounds of closures TUSD addressed excess capacity at the elementary and middle school levels, and it is important to work on the last part.