Hear that vacuum suck from 1010?
Watching Tucson Unified School District implode again and again hurts. I can’t help but wonder what the late Judy Burns would think of all this mess. Known for being at times a bit of a superintendent pain in her own right as a governing board member, I wonder if TUSD would be in this current mess if Burns was, well, still around. The current mess of having a board majority go out of its way to get rid of a superintendent wouldn’t have happened, I believe, if the last board majority did their job properly: questioning H.T. Sanchez more and not dismissing critics as either being haters, anti-Grijavalistas or ignorant of the bigger picture.
I understand why they stood in his corner so fervently at times. No matter what this new board majority says, Sanchez worked tirelessly for the board and the five-year plan he put together was finally seeing traction through some closure of the achievement gap and seeing important processes take root to address the district’s 40-plus year desegregation order. Even if I didn’t always like Sanchez, I happened to like the fact he went up to Crazyland to check in with the Legislature. It was about time a superintendent from our belittled district did exactly that. The new board majority could have worked with Sanchez, but they didn’t. And now, no matter how Mark Stegeman spins this, there is a real leadership vacuum at TUSD and another crisis unfolding with the people Sanchez left behind.
There are some whose opinions I’ve respected in the past who wholeheartedly support the new majority’s methodology in ousting Sanchez. How sad. Thinking Michael Hicks and Stegeman offer the district real leadership is forgetting a past that, frankly, I can’t forget. During the height of the Mexican American Studies fight, I remember a Hicks who’d go outside during the governing board breaks and taunt students and community members standing outside in protest. I saw Stegeman, as president of the board, allow important meetings to go on in the small 1010 boardroom rather than move to a larger space. I saw him lose absolute respect and control at a meeting while professor and activist Guadalupe Castillo was escorted out of the board room by four riot-gear wearing Tucson Police Department officers. I saw Stegeman at a state administration hearing, describe MAS classes as cults endangering students. Oh and don’t forget Hicks on the Daily Show earnestly describing bean burritos shared with MAS students as a way to brainwash them while they learned about Mexican-American history.
No, these are not real leaders. To be fooled into thinking so means history is pointless. I’m hoping Burns can reach through the other side with some board lessons of her own to newcomer Rachael Sedgwick: Think for yourself rather then being pulled into majority think. It didn’t help Sanchez last year and it isn’t going to help the district now.
The whispers coming out of 1010 may not be singing the praises of Sanchez, although many have shared with me that they respected him. The five-year plan was only two years in, they reminded me. It would have transformed the district, they’ve said. Maybe. I also understand resumes are being typed up as we speak, because a vacuum has been created by this severe lack of leadership on our governing board.
— Mari Herreras,
mari@tucsonlocalmedia.com
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2017.
Tucson schools superintendent to local taxpayers: youre a bunch of bigots
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/30/tucson-schools-superintendent-to-local-taxpayers-youre-a-bunch-of-bigots/#ixzz4apRcq5Xu
New details emerge in Grijalva kin hiring
http://tucson.com/news/local/education/new-details-emerge-in-grijalva-kin-hiring/article_674695dc-d25c-5912-936a-c6bd531d1bbb.html
TUSD Whistleblowers expose HT Sanchez and his perpetual lies
http://threesonorans.com/2015/10/27/tusd-whistleblowers-expose-ht-sanchez-and-his-perpetual-lies/
…and she never mentions Adelita. I wonder why? Tucson children deserve better than TUSD.
The “king” (notice the purposely used lower case k) of Tucson bigots is calling out bigots.
The lowly troll that uses “I’m rubber, you’re glue” as his calling card will be noticed by those who have brains.
You’re done W, A.
You were actually done years ago, but you just don’t understand reality.
You know, I too cannot stand What’s Up usual comments. But I do have to thank him or her for re-posting http://tucson.com/news/local/education/new…
for a good giggle. This is great leadership, right? Its worth a morning guffaw to see the Superintendent “not recall” that he had actually met Ms. Grijalva’s mother in law, and then asked her if she would like to become part of the TUSD family, and finally discounted the person ahead of her in line according to ALL the reviewers because of not having long term certification. Sanchez himself was required to have certification, one would assume IN Arizona, but never did. One wonders if exposing this lie, i.e. actually DOING HER JOB is one reason why Huicochea doesn’t cover TUSD anymore, and if, given the Boe-inspired media contract, one reason why the Arizona Daily Star hardly covers it either?!
I remember those days too, Mari. I remember them well. The difference between us though is that I never tuned out after giving a chance to the new Board that disposed of Pedicone. I gave them a chance, and I gave Sanchez a chance. If you look through the archives, you will even find pro-Sanchez quotes under my name. But I pretty quickly saw through the smoke and mirrors because I was in the schools and on the ground and not being beholden to any machine or political operatives, the Board disfunction, the over centralization,the mandates and the lies were overwhelming, as students lost funding and importance, and administrators multiplied like mushrooms. Did others stay in touch and keep up? Not so much. The political machine that is so vocal now? Many not at all!
And frankly, since you ask, I think Judy Burns would be very very happy about Rachael Sedgwick’s performance on the dais. Don’t forget how hard teachers, unions and administrators disliked Judy before she got on the Board. Don’t forget that they kept her from her seat for three elections, and she only won on the fourth because no one else ran for the spot. They learned their lesson then, right? The elections now are a sea of people, about half of whom seem to be sent to run with no intention of doing anything but keeping others from winning. Since Judy died while in office, she has been lionized by the very machine that impeded her initial attempts to get on the Board. She was a fearless advocate for students from all over the district, and could be quite irritating with her incredibly specific questions …She encouraged me to run, and I think (everyone will correct me if I am wrong!) she even suggested or encouraged that Mark Stegeman run. So lets not ‘tokenize’ her just because she’s no longer around to set the record straight.
When, in the last meeting, Rachael questioned an item that was in the consent agenda that was so poorly written that it didn’t even make clear what was to be voted on, that was a pure Judy Burns moment. Having done her homework, unlike the rest of the Board members, she started asking questions and sure enough the administrators who had reflexively put a completely untransparent item on the consent agenda were instructed to bring it back when it makes sense. If I am not wrong, that first instruction was from Adelita, desperately trying to save some semblance of focus, order and procedure after Kristle turned the questioning into yet another attack on Rachael. Was the poorly written item malicious lack of transparency or just sheer incompetence? I think Judy would have been quite proud that it was uncovered in either case.
Can you believe? I have more to add. The bottom line is that Hicks and Stegeman were indeed awful around MAS. And Foster and Grijalva were indeed horrible around desegregation and any sort of supervision of a Superintendent that was gaining raises every time he turned around. So what, exactly, is the problem with having a swing vote on there to neutralize the worst of the leadership abuses we have seen? If Foster and Grijalva were not running such a HUGE amount of interference, we would all be more easily able to see the number of unanimous votes that have been taken, and we would all more easily be able to see possibilities for both “sides” to win a little, lose a little. After a period in which only one side won ALL OF THE TIME that should make many people breathe a little more easily.
Once again, the Tucson Weekly is spreading Grijalvista talking points instead of doing actual journalism. If you actually took the time to look into the facts, instead of believing the lies and excuses of the Grijalva Political Machine; you might actually learn something!
I just read the recent articles related to TUSD and the board meetings. I also read the comments.
What stands out in the comment section:
–Insults.
–A lot of adult names (Rachel/Adelita/Judy/Kristle, etc.), with vitriol about perceived who-did-what-to-who
–Partisan commentary
Missing from the commentary: Constructive, thoughtful conversation about the 48,000+ kids in Tucson who attend TUSD schools. The families. The teachers. The volunteers. The principals. There’s a lot of really good people in these groups working hard right now to do right by kids and improve the schools. All these groups, of course, really pay the price each time the school board is used as a partisan [and obviously personal] grudge-match.
I admired Judy Burns for years. I collected signatures for her, because she was the best TUSD Board member I had ever seen. I believe Judy Burns would have been happy to serve on a Board with Rachel Sedgwick. Rachel is picking up where Judy Burns, unfortunately for us and her family, left off. Rachel is doing her homework and asking questions. She is challenging the status quo, big time!
Go Rachel!