Superintendents & Accountability

This post is about the elections in EPISD, though it might not seem like it at first. This might take awhile, but it'll be worth it if you're voting in the EPISD run-off, or care about public education in general. And there are only three places to vote - downtown at the Courthouse, Grandview Senior Center, and the Doris Van Doren Library. So walk with me...

If you recall I wrote a piece about how its completely stupid that superintendents sit on the dais with the elected trustees of a district. There is no practical reason for doing so and quite frankly, its actually really bad policy that trustees don't show the backbone to make the superintendent sit with the rest of staff.

The reality is that Trustees are elected to represent the people and there is only one employee the Trustees supervise - the superintendent. The fact that they allow the superintendent to sit with the elected members of the board as though they are somehow a peer of those elected by the people, is a big problem. How is the community to have any faith that you'll hold the supers accountable when they sit up on the dais like they are one of you? And not only do they sit there with the trustees, they almost always sit right next to the board president, in a place of more prominence than the rest of the actual elected members of the board.

Like I said before, people would lose their mind if Tommy Gonzalez or the County Administrator sat up on the dais with the elected body.

But all it took was going to one meeting in Socorro ISD to underscore the importance of holding a superintendent accountable. Supers need a majority on a board. They have to keep the majority happy in order to keep their jobs and get a raise. So a board is supposed to be that check on a super's authority on behalf of the community.

So as much as they may want to publicly deny it, supers are as political as the city manager of El Paso is. Just because you aren't elected to a position doesn't mean you aren't a politician. Its part of their job no matter how often they want to come off humble - although truth be told, most don't even fake humility these days.

Think about it, pick any school district in the county and who's face is on everything for the district? In Socorro ISD, they put their superintendent on not one, but TWO billboards.

Seriously, is there any less justifiable public expenditure by an elected body than to advertise the one employee you over see? Well Socorro did that - and then they wonder why they have a super that pretty much does what he wants. Which is a lesson on being careful who you put on pedestals.

He is used to doing what he wants because he pretty much had a board that has zero interest in holding him accountable. One of the board members seems more interested in getting on his good side than giving anything that even looks like a directive to him.

I went to a meeting recently and there were two agenda items that really crystalized the state of affairs with their superintendent. One of the them had to do with teacher raises and the other had to do with facilities.

The two Socorro teacher's unions showed up to advocate for a raise. They had several people signed up to speak during public comment about what they wanted in terms of a raise from the board.

Later, after most of the teachers left the meeting, the superintendent - the same guy who recently was awarded a big fat raise and bonus paid by the tax payers of SISD, who's salary and perks is pushing $400k per year - proceeded to rehash slides from their budget guy's presentation with the express intent of killing the union's raise request.

It was seriously the douchiest move I've seen from a politico since Josh Carter started posting quotes from other people telling him how great he was on his facebook page.

The super sent the message to the staff that he was entitled to a big fat raise, but the teachers - and more importably bus drivers, janitors, and cafeteria staff, don't deserve the request they were asking for even though it doesn't come anywhere near the raise he just got.

The second thing, well y'all might want to mark the date and time because I'm about to defend a Gandara here...

During a facilities presentation, Trustee Gary Gandara asked a question about basketball courts in the new bond projects. He made a very good point about courts that aren't used because they are put behind the schools, usually away from buildings and aren't lit very well. He asked if they could be moved closer to the front for better lighting and more use. The facilities guy was pretty rude to Trustee Gandara in the tone of his response. Almost as though he was annoyed at the question.

Staff publicly disrespectful to a Trustee is unacceptable in any other school district. The fact that the staffer was disrespectful and no one, particularly the superintendent, batted an eye is a sign of a board that needs to hold a super accountable.

I don't hold the staffer responsible for that one - its the super's fault. Because the super creates the environment where a staffer thinks its acceptable to disrespect an elected Trustee who is asking a legitimate question in his capacity as an elected representative of the people.

And that brings me to EPISD.

That district has been a desmadre for a long time. Anyone who says it isn't either has been living under a rock or works for the district. Actually, most people that work for the district freely acknowledge that it is a desmadre. And that is why this run-off election is so important to this community.

I don't live in EPISD but the reality is that when companies want to relocate to a city, they look at things like the schools. You google EPISD as a parent and employee of a business looking to relocate and you get headlines that would make a protestant want to start praying the rosary asking for divine intervention that their company not come to El Paso.

So even if we don't live there, we should really care about what happens in the Big 3 school districts in El Paso.

EPISD has had Trustees that didn't understand their role of holding a super accountable. EPISD has had Trustees that forget they are the super's boss. Think I'm exaggerating? Former Trustee Mickey Loweree referred to Juan Cabrera as her "boss" to an Ysleta ISD Trustee at a conference.

Y'all bitch and moan about your taxes but don't bat an eye at the fact that the body that makes up the biggest part of your tax bill puts the equivalent of their city manager up on the dais with them. You think there's any controls on spending and policy as long as that is happening?

For the good of the community - and as much as I freaking HATE the westside - we all have to collectively care about what happens in EPISD.

There are run-off elections going on right now and the fundamental choice voters have in those elections is simple.

Who is more likely to hold the superintendent accountable?

In District 3, the Austin area, the race is between a public defender named René Vargas and a Josh Acevedo who's course of study is to be...wait for it...a superintendent. He's not a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination. He's a really great guy, I like him very much. And both candidates running are actually qualified candidates, which is a refreshing change in El Paso politics.

But do I think Acevedo is going to stand up to the superintendent?

No.

Why?

Well because a) he wants a career in education and b) he's a really nice guy. His demeanor is not that of someone who is going to hold anyone accountable.

Vargas is a public defender - the guy fights the government for a freaking living. No brainer.

District 6 is the Franklin area Freddy Klayel-Avalos missed winning without a runoff by just 25 votes. He's running against Tom Hicks, who is a Carlos Sierra candidate. Sierra's other candidate was Loweree, the trustee who called Cabrera her boss. The Carlos Sierra slate of candidates is not a slate that wants to hold the super accountable. Hicks has been VERY careful to not speak an ill-word of Cabrera. In fact, I went though all the video of the candidate forums I could find or the ones I recorded myself and I can't find one single critical statement from Hicks about Cabrera.

Klayel-Avalos is running on holding Cabrera accountable.

So if you live in those two areas, do the rest of the county a solid and go vote.

EPISD needs to not be a disaster anymore and our entire community will benefit greatly the day it is no longer seen as the desmadre school board of El Paso County.