TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez is giving a total of $17,000 to two schools. A couple of thoughts on the gesture.
First. I don’t know if Sanchez timed the gift to lessen the impact of the complaints about his overly generous new contract, but if he did, it won’t do much good. His gift is close to what the two previous superintendents gave back to the district—their yearly bonuses—so the gesture just puts him in line with his predecessors. He’s still taking a big compensation bump over the next few years which has been greeted with nearly universal criticism (with me taking longer to get there than it should have. Mea culpa). I’m guessing nothing short of a reopening of the contract to lower the pay increase will help much.
Second. Sanchez chose two schools to give the money to: Davis Bilingual Elementary and University High. They’re probably worthy choices, but I’m sure there were a few among many, many schools and projects he had to choose from. No matter where he decided to give money, and no matter how much he decided to give, it’s small potatoes compared to the overwhelming need. If he brought his salary down to the previous level or took a small raise, it would be a clear statement that he doesn’t put his needs above those of others in the district, but it wouldn’t make a dent in the programs that need to be funded, and at most it would mean pennies in salary increases spread across the district.
The big issue, the one that we shouldn’t take our eyes off of no matter what other legitimate concerns people have, is the state is starving the schools of funds. TUSD can work to save money however and wherever it can. Superintendent Douglas can try to reduce the bureaucratic mandates to schools which are currently built into state law. But so long as Arizona is sitting in 49th place, thousands of dollars per student below the national average, we’re cheating our children out of the educations they deserve.
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2015.
I am done talking about this. It is time the public took appropriate action.
David I’m glad that you’ve begun to see the light, but you still have a long way to go. Once again you have missed the point. Sanchez didn’t decide to donate any money until the public found out about Davis having a Go Fund Me account, to fund their PE program. Many schools are in this boat , but Sanchez chose the two most popular to donate to, it would have gone along way if he had donated a little to several schools. Sanchez is only doing this to save his own butt, once again thinking of himself and no one else.
These pay raises and bonuses are criminal, isn’t it funny that this only happened after the Audit committee criticized the majority for their spending, and the majorities response was to change the charter , in effect firing the Audit Committee, and placing the two most questionable people on it , Grijalva and Soto. So now there still is no internal auditor, even though Sanchez has pleaded for one on his news letter, and Grijalva has taken over the Audit Committee, leaving no financial oversight, and now she presents this contract . The superintendent and the majority, lead by Grijalva, even kept this contract from other board members, and still the majority passed it. That David is a criminal act. Sanchez can do nothing to correct this , he has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, his only choice now is to resign or be fired , and if he doesn’t resign , trust me the public is outraged enough that he will be fired. This raise has placed Sanchez so out of touch with parents and employees, that his only option is to resign .The county attorney is investigating Grijalva for her criminal activity and the Attorney General is investigating TUSD and the board majority for theirs.
Although it is true that the state funding issue is something to watch , it is not the big issue here, once again you’ve missed it, because you are wearing your Sanchez , Grijalva glory glasses, it is the only way that you could find something good in this tragedy. The big issue here is the illegal actions of this majority, they have violated open meeting laws over and over again, they have taken control of this district to a point of no oversight. Grijalva and Soto have no right being on the audit committee, and it should be restored. In this time of dwindling state funding , school districts may need to tighten their belts, however Sanchez and the majority has responded by over bloating the administration, and cutting funding to the schools. This is evident with this over compensating contract. Every cabinet member that was offered this should be fired. Sanchez is an inexperienced , egomaniac that doesn’t care about children or his own employees. David your continued support of him is disheartening , the only person that loves Sanchez more is Sanchez himself. It is time for this to end I am demanding Sanchez, Grijalva, Foster, and Juarez resignations now, save the tax payers some money, resign before you are recalled. Feel free to share this with your friends at TUSD
I am still the lone wolf. We have teachers leaving by droves (WaPo), and a district who has changed supers often for a variety of reasons (I am guessing a big part of it is all the politicizing that goes on), the present super gives a nice chunk of money to 2 schools and people are complaining about the pay incentives he is given to stay. I really do not get the negativity . It sure seems like a lot of people are rooting for TUSD to fail and that is so so unfortunate.
Guardians people don’t want TUSD to fail, that’s why they want Sanchez and the majority gone. They are operating illegally, they won’t even let principals see their buhgets. Sanchez is not werth the money they want to pay him, his inexperience would be enough but the fact that so many teachers and staff and students are hurting , giving such a raise and bonuses to his staff is sickening. I have many friends that are teachers and staff members, all afraid to speak up, most leaving because of the way they are treated . I will always support these people, there are things that I know about that would make you change your mind ,but this is not the place to discuss that. If you truly care about the children and staff of TUSD these people must go before its to late. Think long and hard about that and maybe you’ll support throwing these people out.I pray you will be able to see the truth.
Guardians Sanchez only donated money because he got got not funding programs, he chose UHS because those parents are most likely to be vocal against him , Davis chosen because Grijalva and Juarez have children going there.
Gosh, he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Personally I think he should’ve just kept the money, but it’s awfully nice to give up, what 34k? Which of you would’ve done the same?
I don’t know why every one is blaming Sanchez for his salary. He has every right to negotiate the best salary he can. People in Tucson are so weird about money. It’s not like divvying up his salary among all the teachers would amount to a hill of beans. I’d rather have a capable well-compensated leader lobbying for the district in Phoenix than have some lousy administrator making a teacher’s salary.
Regardless, people should be blaming the board if they think his salary is too high.
And how much do you think it would cost to have a lobbyist. Even David wouldn’t endorse a lobbyist.
Boy, it’s about time to drag this dead horse off to the glue factory. C’mon, David, find something to build on instead of tear down. Something original.
It is kind of silly to blame Sanchez for getting too much compensation. The folks who are to blame are the three members of the TUSD Governing Board who put the financial interests of the superintendent ahead of the needs of teachers and students. Blaming Sanchez may feel good, but the ones who are supposed to represent the families and taxpayers of TUSD are the elected Board members, and Grijalva, Foster and Juarez need to go in order for TUSD’s priorities to change. With those three running the district the needs of students always seem to be left out.
If anyone like Brian really wants to know the truth all they have to do is call down to the administration office and say to the switchboard, “I would like to talk to someone who knows why the principals have not received their budget”. Reply, “Certainly maam”…. I was transferred and I asked why the principals didn’t receive their budget yet. The answer, “We switched to a new system which doesn’t go live until July 1.. not everything is loaded yet but finance is working hard to get it done.”
Making things up, calling them criminal, and acting like you are speaking the truth is not good for the children. I wish you would stop doing that Brian, and call the source for the correct information. It really took no time at all.
Guardians — If you haven’t figured out yet that there is a lot of misinformation deliberately spread within TUSD, then I don’t think anyone can help you. Personally, I wish you would stop asserting, against all evidence to the contrary, that the district is transparent and is always doing the right thing. The community needs HONESTY about the school system in which more than 40,000 of our young people are enrolled, not more disingenuous propaganda. Have you noticed that the dislikes on your comments on TUSD always outnumber the likes? Why do you think this is? You are not convincing the commenters here, most of whom I’m sure know better from their own direct experience with the district. There is a lot of suffering going on in the district right now — parents, teachers, administrators. The leadership problems are painful to observe for those who care about TUSD, and reading your “Pollyanna glob” just rubs salt in the wounds.
Here’s a suggestion for you: Attend all the site council meetings at the TUSD site nearest to you. I think you might find that interesting. Make some of your “Yay TUSD!” comments in that setting — see what kind of a response you get. When you’ve done that, perhaps you can report back to us on the results. After you’ve had some direct experience watching administrators trying to manage their communities and address the policy and budget issues on their sites, what you say about principals and budgets might have more validity.