At the second TUSD board meeting in as many weeks, the board punted on the topic of keeping or firing Superintendent Sanchez. Last week, on Feb. 14, the action item was removed from the board’s agenda. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, it was the meeting’s sole agenda item. After an executive session which ran hours longer than scheduled, the board members walked into the standing-room-only meeting room, listened to members of the audience speak out for and against Sanchez, then told the audience the item had been tabled. See y’all next week!

None of us regular folks know exactly why a vote on Sanchez’s future was delayed. The decision was made in executive session, and the board members are supposed to keep those sessions confidential. So the next step is anyone’s guess. Sanchez may yet be fired; he may be allowed to remain with conditions; or the board may simply vote against the call to get rid of him and be done with it. I have a feeling the board doesn’t know much more about the outcome than the rest of us.

So, nothing happened. But I observed something and drew a conclusion which may or may not be accurate. What I observed was, there’s not a whole lot of passionate community support for the “Fire Sanchez” movement. There are probably a significant number of people in the community who are dissatisfied with his performance as superintendent, people who wouldn’t be unhappy to see him go, but if the meeting is any indication, the core group of Sanchez haters, the people with fire in their bellies, is reasonably small.

Full disclosure: I think Sanchez should stick around at least until his contract runs out in 2018, so that may color my subjective, anecdotal observations. I claim no scientific rigor here. That being said, I watched carefully, and this is what I observed. If I’m wrong, I’m sure others will let me know.

When the executive session ended, the board members entered the meeting room one by one over the course of a few minutes. Before they were all assembled, Sanchez walked in and sat down. Something like half of the people in the 100+ member crowd greeted him with a long, loud standing ovation. It may have been pre-arranged, I don’t know. But in a room filled with a mixture of community members, staff members who were there as part of their job, reporters and curious onlookers, when half the room stands, that’s a serious show of support, pre-arrangement or no.

By my count, 12 people spoke during the call to the audience, 10 of whom sent emails asking to speak before the meeting. Again by my count, eight spoke in favor of Sanchez and four spoke against—it would have been five against, but one person who requested a speaking spot didn’t attend. The speakers were applauded when each of them finished. The applause for the pro-Sanchez speakers was significantly louder than for those speaking against him. I stood to see the number of people who clapped for each speaker. More than half the room applauded the pro-Sanchez speakers. A far smaller number—a dozen to twenty people, I estimate—applauded the people who spoke against Sanchez.

The call to the audience was closed before everyone had a chance to speak, which made sense since it was already approaching 9pm and the board hadn’t begun its public discussion. However, board member Kristel Foster informed the audience that of the 48 people who weren’t given a chance to speak, 44 planned to speak in favor of keeping Sanchez. No other board member spoke up to contradict her.

A reality check here. Anyone can pack a room and create the appearance of support for a position, and some of that may have been going on with the pro-Sanchez faction. But the people who have spoken long and loud about wanting to get rid of Sanchez could have done the same thing. If there were a large group of people who are passionate about getting rid of Sanchez, it shouldn’t have been hard to get lots of them to attend. People are on the streets protesting Trump by the hundreds, sometimes by the thousands, in Tucson. How hard would it have been to get 100 people, or even 50 people, to come voice their passionate dislike of Sanchez at a well publicized public meeting? My feeling is, it shouldn’t have been hard if those people were out there. But their numbers at the meeting were small compared to the pro-Sanchez crowd. And if Foster’s speaker count is accurate, the disproportion was mirrored in the number of people who requested to speak—a total of 52 people who signed up to speak in support of Sanchez and 9 who signed up to speak against him.

A series of anonymous letters have been published beginning in 2015 expressing the writers’ strenuous objections to Sanchez and the three board members who supported him until one was voted out in November. The most recent letter, the 48th, said it is from “Whistleblowers– Comprised of a Large Group of Extremely Concerned TUSD Administrators, Teachers, Retired Administrators and Parents, Grandparents.” I wonder, where were members of that “large group” Tuesday night? Teachers and administrators who are part of the group can say they’re worried about retribution if they showed up. Fair enough. But what about all the “Retired Administrators and Parents, Grandparents”? They didn’t present anything close to a show of strength Tuesday night.

I support people’s right to express their views anonymously. It’s part of a great American tradition dating back to the Founders of this nation. But when a series of anonymous letters claims to express the opinions of a large number of people, yet few of them show up for a meeting addressing their most important concern, it makes me wonder how large that group is. If it’s actually a small group, that doesn’t make the concerns any less valid, even though I tend to disagree with them. Right and wrong aren’t determined by a show of hands. But if the group is smaller than it presents itself to be, that puts its claim to represent a “large group of extremely concerned” people into doubt.

This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2017.

13 replies on “Did the TUSD Board Come To Bury Sanchez Or To Praise Him? (Answer: C, None Of the Above)”

  1. Bullying is very effective especially when the bully signs the paychecks and his sponsor(s) is the most powerful politician in Pima County.

    Grijalva was able to instigate a boycott against his own state, his own people. Just think what he could have inflicted on TUSD employees that stand against him and his daughter.

  2. Gee, David, you really are a little slow on the uptake. This issue of why support for Grijalva and her hand-picked administrative servant is so loud and public and why opposition takes place anonymously has been addressed many, many times in this comment stream. Here’s one comment among many that explains it:

    “People who support those currently in power in the district, like Andrea Rickard, have no reason not to post under their own names, and may in fact be earning brownie points with leadership for doing so. This is power politics 101 (actually, remedial power politics — any grade schooler who chooses not to “dis” his teacher to her face gets it). So why is this hard for you to understand?”

    Several people I know received requests from a few different directions to speak in the Call and write to the Board. Some received these requests to speak in support of Sanchez. Some received requests to speak in opposition to Sanchez. I’ve talked to representatives of both sides, so let me brief you on how the thought process goes:

    Case A: I’ve received a request to speak in support of Sanchez. Perhaps I don’t like him, but at this point I don’t know whether or not he will continue to occupy the powerful position he occupies. Do I go to speak in support of him, no matter how ambivalent my feelings about his leadership may be? If I have a child enrolled in these schools and / or if I represent people who hope to continue getting contracts with the district and / or if I am an employee or am related to an employee, you bet I go. Not to obey the summons would be dangerous to my interests.

    Case B: I’ve received a request to speak in support of firing Sanchez. Perhaps I am passionately in support of giving him his marching orders and securing more competent leadership for this troubled district, but at this point I don’t know whether or not he will continue to occupy the powerful position he occupies. Do I go to speak in support of firing him? Though you do seem pretty dim sometimes, David, I think you can probably see where this is going: If I have a child enrolled in these schools and / or if I represent people who hope to continue getting contracts…etc. Do I go to speak in support of firing him? No way. To agree to do so is potentially dangerous to my interests or the interests of my loved ones. Multiply the potential dangers of blowback within TUSD to include potential blowback within various other city agencies where members of the same network hold office: there are contractors who’ve said they fear running into difficulties getting permits for work they need to do if they publicly oppose some of TUSD’s entrenched politicians.

    Do you get it now?

    FYI, what they decided in the meeting was to proceed with external counsel. When Stegeman responded in the comment stream on the Star’s article on the same Board meeting you are writing about here, he wrote, “You are right, but this is a personnel process. Personnel processes are generally not public processes. Things usually become clearer at the end.”

    Perhaps I’m reading the tea leaves wrong, David, but I believe this all means they are in the process of trying to fire Sanchez with cause. If that happens, after it happens, you may see a very different Call to the Audience than you saw last night. And then again you may not. Why would anyone take the trouble to attend and speak in one of those egregious meetings when what they believed was best for the district has already been accomplished? Perhaps it would be better to just send Mark Stegeman a personal thank you note, if he succeeds in doing what he seems to be trying to do: something that is without doubt the best possible thing to do to help this troubled district.

  3. ” a room filled with a mixture of community members, staff members who were there as part of their job, reporters and curious onlookers,”

    Well for goodness sakes, who was missing?

    Parents of school children affected.

    But they now can identify the supporters.

  5. Sylvia Campoy’s name seemed to come up a couple of times last night as the Board bickered about who would and would not get to speak in the Call to the Audience and how long the Call would last. Ultimately, they closed the call without allowing Sylvia, the Latino Plaintiff’s representative in the desegregation case, to speak.

    Why was that? Personally, I would much rather hear someone who tracks social justice issues and desegregation plan implementation in TUSD speak than I would like to hear the head of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce speak. Yet Adelita Grijalva was very eager to have the head of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce — a man who is not an expert in the management of public school districts, to my knowledge — effusively praise Sanchez, while she had no interest in hearing Ms. Campoy’s perspective.

    Why do you suppose that was, David? Whose interests do your friends actually represent? The interests of the disadvantaged, or someone else’s interests?

  6. Here’s some information on a couple of the devoted Sanchez fans who spoke in the Call to the Audience in the 4/14/17 and 4/21/17 TUSD Board meetings, David. It was just posted in another Tucson Weekly article’s comment stream, but it is also relevant here:

    One of the speakers in the 4/21/17 Call to the Audience was a former President of the University High School P.A., the same one who had come down to the “dog and pony show” portion of a TUSD Board meeting on June 23, 2015 to receive a $10,000 personal donation check from Sanchez on behalf of the counseling office at University High School.

    Ms. Barnes was accompanied on that check-receiving occasion by Suzan Costich, a University High School fundraiser. By a strange coincidence, Ms. Barnes spoke in support of Sanchez’s leadership in the 4/21/2017 meeting, and Ms. Costich spoke in support of Sanchez’s leadership the previous Board meeting where “Fire Sanchez” was on the agenda, 4/14/2017.

    Here’s a link to the video tape of June 23, 2015 meeting, where you can see Ms. Barnes and Ms. Costich receiving the $10,000 personal check from Sanchez at about minute 40 in the videotape:
    http://www.tusd1.org/contents/govboard/gbvideo062315.html

    If you’d like to view Ms. Costich speaking in support of Sanchez’s leadership, that’s at about hour 2, minute 14 in the video of the 2/14/2017 meeting:
    http://www.tusd1.org/contents/govboard/gbvideo021417.html

    If you’d like to view Ms. Barnes speaking in support of Sanchez’s leadership, that’s at about minute 17 in the video of the 2/21/2017 meeting:
    http://www.tusd1.org/contents/govboard/gbvideo022117.html

    I do feel sorry for you sometimes, David. You try so hard to make a good case for your friends, and they make it very hard for you sometimes, don’t they?

  7. David,

    Let me see if I can explain this to you simply. Why don’t people show themselves to you re: TUSD?

    Here is Kathy Campbell, mother of three TUSD students, owner of a small homebuilding business that builds about 20 homes a year for families in Tucson. She prides herself in what she does and prides herself in Tucson. But she is dissatisfied with the bullying of her girls, she struggles with the lack of dollars and textbooks in the classroom, her kids with 504 learning plans are ignored and she has great empathy for the teacher friends that are being financially abused by the District. She decides to speak up. Raise her hand. She decides to try to make a positive difference. She simply tries to have a voice in what is best for her kids.

    And what do you do David? What do your friends from the embedded establishment do? You try to destroy her. You and your ilk create a website and spread rumors that stain her. We all hear she wants to destroy schools. She wants to kick out the kids (hers as well) and tear the buildings down. Then, because she is a greedy homebuilder who cares zero about her own kids and their education, she wants to build homes on the lands of the destroyed schools. She wants to make money on the destruction of her own kids education. She (and her husband) are the anti-Christ. How dare they speak what they feel is right and fair for their children?

    David, you and the ones you support destroy ANYONE that cares differently or may believe in a slightly different direction. A direction that is less political and a bit more about the kids. A direction that pays teachers what they are owed and wants greater than 50 cents of every dollar in the classroom. You destroy them…..and then you wonder why more don’t expose themselves to your brutality. Good day sir.

  8. The bully prepares the ground by giving candy to anyone who agrees with him publicly and by punching anyone who disagrees with him publicly in the face.

    Then the bully puts on a show: “How many people agree with me?”

    And we are supposed to conclude that because a lot of people are willing to publicly agree with the bully to get candy and very few are willing to publicly disagree and get punched in the face, there is no genuine, widespread opposition to the bully’s opinion?

    How many people are too stupid to see this for what it is? David Safier pretends to be, but somehow I think that he, having recently served as part of the bully’s enforcement squad, understands how it works very well.

    Thank you, Jim Campbell, for providing very effective personal testimony. And thank you to Kathy for being one of the only people in town willing to take the risk of very publicly and very effectively asking for better for our kids.

  9. TUSD has lost 15,000 students under Adelita Grijalva and H.T. Sanchez. Those parents don’t go to the meetings.

    Choice is a wonderful thing for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

  10. Oh I missed this article when I commented on the OTHER unbiased reporting of TUSD affairs (NOT) that came through on my news feed. I saw you there David, and wondered if you too had to take a shower after the meeting because of all the slime that was being spewed from the dias and the audience commenters. Guess not. The comments above have pretty clearly indicated why people wouldn’t show up but there is more. The attempt to get people to speak out in favor of Sanchez’ leaving took place considerably AFTER the district phone calls to administrators and teachers to attend and support Sanchez, the changing of the SCPC meeting to make sure to pack the place with parents (although most SCPC people are not parents anymore) and the FB event that invited people for 4:30 (none came) demonstration and, yes, featured a nauseating picture of HT Sanchez as if he were Barack Obama and stood for HOPE. Well, he doesn’t stand for HOPE for teachers, counselors or nurses, all of whom lost important benefits when their new contracts were released, nor for minority/majority students that should have been benefitting from the magnet school monies, nor for blue collar staff that received a whopping 1% raise (adding up to pennies on the dollar while administrators’ 1% raise added up to thousands)…..He also doesn’t look like HOPE for any Board member who wants to know how many families have been thrown off of TUSD grounds with a police order to not return (a question not answered) or even one who wants a staff member to schedule a doodle poll (at LEAST 5 minutes of work for a highly paid assistant to pull off) of Board members to plan a Budget study session (which, incidentally, it is really hard to understand why the old Board majority is so opposed to!) While those of us who did stand up for taking Sanchez down from his pinnacle of un-acountable caudillismo are often berated, we do still represent almost 200,000 votes within TUSD just a few months ago calling for that very thing. That is a total I do not see you cite, David.

  12. My daughter attends Tucson High. She came home complaining that her History teacher was instructing the students in the doctrine of the Muslim faith. According to her, the teacher doesn’t even mention the history of America. He spends most of his time bashing President Trump and American values.. He insists that the Muslim faith is a peaceful religion and the students are given assignments and shown ‘You Tube’ videos in the study of Islam. According to my daughter, if anyone of the students contradict him in any fashion, he retaliates by giving the student a failing grade. Most of the students of the district are predominantly Roman Catholic. With this mind, he has cleverly placed a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the class room. However, the teacher involved never mentions a single word in reference to the religious photograph. In my opinion, he’s deliberately and with malice deceiving the students by making seem as though he’s a friend of Catholicism and therefore opening a door of communication and trust between student and teacher for the introduction of the Muslim faith. Parents beware, get involved with your children, take the time to ask your sibling what they’re being taught in your school district. P.S. My child will not be attending public school as of 2/24/2017..

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