Shapleigh Clashes with Community Activist & Educator
An email exchange is circulating around town in which former State Senator Eliot Shapleigh appears to clash with community activist and educator Xavier Miranda.
Miranda is a teacher in EPISD and has been publicly discussing the need for education reform for quite some time.
The letter from Shapleigh, in my opinion, seems to imply that the Senator is accusing Miranda of being part of some effort to intimidate teachers that attended a press conference with the former Senator. In fact, he almost appears to cross-examine Miranda.
Frankly the tone of the email from the former Senator is exactly the tone that irritates people about Shapleigh. Especially the part near the end were he appears to question Miranda's stature as a grassroots leader. Sorry Senator, you don't get to decide who the community views as a grassroots leader. I've personally witnessed, on several occassions Mr. Miranda's grassroots leadership through organization of events, rallies, phone banking, block-walking, and signature collecting. All text-book grassroots organization activities.
But in fairness to the former senator I've seen him throw several press conferences and town hall forums for issues outside of his influence as a then-State Senator. I suppose that is sort of like grassroots organizing...
Here is the former Senator's email:
Dear Xavier,
Below is an email sent to me from "Grassroots" EP on being transparent.
What I need to know from you is what you were doing in our Senate office in 2010 during the Austin High School Press Conference. On that day, we had brave parents, teachers and counselors exposing what has now become a national scandal. After that conference, each of the teachers was immediately contacted and intimidated. Back then Lorenzo Garcia, Damon Murphy, James Anderson, Pricilla Terrazas and principals around EPISD believed that with fear, they could keep incentive bonuses and cover up a national scandal.
What we now know is that Lorenzo Garcia and many others at EPISD disappeared students at 22 priority schools including Austin, El Paso High, Chapin, even Coronado.
That press conference was designed to deliver the key message that Bowie was not alone-that students all over El Paso, especially LEP students were being denied a constitutional guarantee of a quality education. In my view, Garcia's scheme to disappear students at EPISD is the darkest passage in El Paso's history. That more people did not take a stand and stop this crime is a tragic shame that we will labor to overcome for many years.
Instead of joining us at the conference table to expose what Garcia and others did, you were behind the cameras with Austin Principal John Tanner and others while Tanner shook his head and told the press it did not happen. Tanner then gave the Garcia message to reporters in his own attempt to cover up.
Why did you do that?
Who told you to come to the press conference?
What was your goal in coming?
What did you know about what Tanner was doing at Austin High School?
What did you tell the press that day?
What will you do personally to fix the issues at EPISD?
Please, put your reply in writing and be transparent so I can understand your own actions before I open any more emails from Grassroots El Paso. For you to portray yourself as a 'grassroots leader' with deep interest in education reform, we all need to know why you did what you did that day.
I look forward to your reply.
Very truly yours,
Eliot Shapleigh
And this is the response from Miranda:
Dear Mr. Shapleigh,
I attended the press conference because at the time I had heard from the education community that an intimidation was prevalent. I had recently joined the Districtwide Educational Improvement Committee (DEIC) because I felt educators were not adequately represented at the district level, especially when it came to education policy and curriculum development. It seemed to many that wasteful and irrelevant programs such as INOVA were scams to gain the system. Tracking students, and concocting classes geared to exclusively teach to a test, in my belief, is not serving our kids at all. Many of us educators have grown complacent, and been disconnected from the process, which results from being curriculum-centered, rather than student-curriculum-centered. I joined the DEIC to make a difference.
Further, I attend as many PTSA meetings to convey to our parents the perspective from the classroom. In turn, I hope to convey to my colleagues the parents' perspective so we can renew our commitment to our kids. Reforming education may be as inconsequential as making a home visit to kids that have been taught to a test for the past 10 years, then telling the parents that we're in it together because we care. Reform may come when our activism is seen as experiential learning for our kids, inserting a relevance to the curriculum, and demonstrating the importance of engagement.
But if you ask what is measurable for what I do to encourage education reform, look to the 160 students, parents, educators, union representatives, and district administrators who conducted an education forum. Authentic dialogue ensued, community members, Texas State Representatives, educators, and parents communicated with each other. (I still have the giant post-its that have their feedback and suggestions. This was prompted by a leaked district announcement that 10 teachers from each high school, based on campus seniority, were going to be surplused. We also learned that plans were being made to have teachers teach more classes, with increased classloads. These were a couple of reasons why our community meeting on education was organized. District administration and school board members listened to what we had to say, and revised their personnel-related decision. Our community made a positive difference, in spite of the continued absence of State Representative Dee Margo, of which to his credit, send his most competent assistant, Russell.
What I said to Principal Tanner is not something I recall, I most likely gravitated towards him because I recognized him from being around the district. I tend to acknowledge folks I've previously met.
I probably heard of your press conference from being on your mailing list, and took the time to learn what you presented. Additionally, I may have received it from a few other educators that knew of my challenges to Dr. Garcia's decisions. Now that I've mentioned the challenges, please refer to the minutes from the monthly DEIC meetings to determine the level of my commitment to education reform. In fact, I ask that you inquire of my colleagues, parents, and students of my dedication to education.
I believe I may have answered your questions, sir. As for portraying myself a grassroots leader, it is my practice not to self-promote, rather to support issues such as health reform, immigration reform, registering voters, calling for the support of human rights of immigrants, voicing my outrage when children are being shot dead for throwing rocks at Border Patrol, marching to Cd. Juarez to support Javier Sicilia in calling to an end to the drug cartel violence...these are the actions I engage in, because I have a son that lives in this community. I engage in my larger community, because my daughter is studying to be a Social Studies and English teacher, and I am concerned about the state of education as it stands.
Sir, my El Paso Grassroots emails are published for all to scrutinize; my Facebook postings are self-evident.
I hope this public response demonstrates transparency.
(I attempted to reply promptly, but some grammatical errors may exist.)
Below is an email sent to me from "Grassroots" EP on being transparent.
What I need to know from you is what you were doing in our Senate office in 2010 during the Austin High School Press Conference. On that day, we had brave parents, teachers and counselors exposing what has now become a national scandal. After that conference, each of the teachers was immediately contacted and intimidated. Back then Lorenzo Garcia, Damon Murphy, James Anderson, Pricilla Terrazas and principals around EPISD believed that with fear, they could keep incentive bonuses and cover up a national scandal.
What we now know is that Lorenzo Garcia and many others at EPISD disappeared students at 22 priority schools including Austin, El Paso High, Chapin, even Coronado.
That press conference was designed to deliver the key message that Bowie was not alone-that students all over El Paso, especially LEP students were being denied a constitutional guarantee of a quality education. In my view, Garcia's scheme to disappear students at EPISD is the darkest passage in El Paso's history. That more people did not take a stand and stop this crime is a tragic shame that we will labor to overcome for many years.
Instead of joining us at the conference table to expose what Garcia and others did, you were behind the cameras with Austin Principal John Tanner and others while Tanner shook his head and told the press it did not happen. Tanner then gave the Garcia message to reporters in his own attempt to cover up.
Why did you do that?
Who told you to come to the press conference?
What was your goal in coming?
What did you know about what Tanner was doing at Austin High School?
What did you tell the press that day?
What will you do personally to fix the issues at EPISD?
Please, put your reply in writing and be transparent so I can understand your own actions before I open any more emails from Grassroots El Paso. For you to portray yourself as a 'grassroots leader' with deep interest in education reform, we all need to know why you did what you did that day.
I look forward to your reply.
Very truly yours,
Eliot Shapleigh
And this is the response from Miranda:
Dear Mr. Shapleigh,
I attended the press conference because at the time I had heard from the education community that an intimidation was prevalent. I had recently joined the Districtwide Educational Improvement Committee (DEIC) because I felt educators were not adequately represented at the district level, especially when it came to education policy and curriculum development. It seemed to many that wasteful and irrelevant programs such as INOVA were scams to gain the system. Tracking students, and concocting classes geared to exclusively teach to a test, in my belief, is not serving our kids at all. Many of us educators have grown complacent, and been disconnected from the process, which results from being curriculum-centered, rather than student-curriculum-centered. I joined the DEIC to make a difference.
Further, I attend as many PTSA meetings to convey to our parents the perspective from the classroom. In turn, I hope to convey to my colleagues the parents' perspective so we can renew our commitment to our kids. Reforming education may be as inconsequential as making a home visit to kids that have been taught to a test for the past 10 years, then telling the parents that we're in it together because we care. Reform may come when our activism is seen as experiential learning for our kids, inserting a relevance to the curriculum, and demonstrating the importance of engagement.
But if you ask what is measurable for what I do to encourage education reform, look to the 160 students, parents, educators, union representatives, and district administrators who conducted an education forum. Authentic dialogue ensued, community members, Texas State Representatives, educators, and parents communicated with each other. (I still have the giant post-its that have their feedback and suggestions. This was prompted by a leaked district announcement that 10 teachers from each high school, based on campus seniority, were going to be surplused. We also learned that plans were being made to have teachers teach more classes, with increased classloads. These were a couple of reasons why our community meeting on education was organized. District administration and school board members listened to what we had to say, and revised their personnel-related decision. Our community made a positive difference, in spite of the continued absence of State Representative Dee Margo, of which to his credit, send his most competent assistant, Russell.
What I said to Principal Tanner is not something I recall, I most likely gravitated towards him because I recognized him from being around the district. I tend to acknowledge folks I've previously met.
I probably heard of your press conference from being on your mailing list, and took the time to learn what you presented. Additionally, I may have received it from a few other educators that knew of my challenges to Dr. Garcia's decisions. Now that I've mentioned the challenges, please refer to the minutes from the monthly DEIC meetings to determine the level of my commitment to education reform. In fact, I ask that you inquire of my colleagues, parents, and students of my dedication to education.
I believe I may have answered your questions, sir. As for portraying myself a grassroots leader, it is my practice not to self-promote, rather to support issues such as health reform, immigration reform, registering voters, calling for the support of human rights of immigrants, voicing my outrage when children are being shot dead for throwing rocks at Border Patrol, marching to Cd. Juarez to support Javier Sicilia in calling to an end to the drug cartel violence...these are the actions I engage in, because I have a son that lives in this community. I engage in my larger community, because my daughter is studying to be a Social Studies and English teacher, and I am concerned about the state of education as it stands.
Sir, my El Paso Grassroots emails are published for all to scrutinize; my Facebook postings are self-evident.
I hope this public response demonstrates transparency.
(I attempted to reply promptly, but some grammatical errors may exist.)
Regards,
Xavier Miranda
El Paso Grassroots
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