Professor Alexandre Sugiyama was sworn in as a member of the Tucson Unified school District Governing Board by Pima County Superintendent Arzoumanian tonight. Mark Stegeman was voted in as the new President of the Board, and Mr. Michael Hicks was elected clerk of the Board.
“In the past two years the Board has been ruled by politics¸ the new make-up and shift in power represents a return to apolitical education focused governance,” said Rich Kronberg co-founder of Tucsonans United for Sound Districts.
Professor Sugiyama’s swearing in was witnessed by his wife and two young daughters ages 1, and 4. At the conclusion of his oath, he received a standing ovation.
Outgoing President Miguel Cuevas, whose terms expired last night, was clearly angered by his failure to secure a second term. At the conclusion of the vote, Cuevas told his fellow Board members that he could not “sit here anymore” stood up and adjourned the meeting, at which point a short break was taken by all but Grijalva. He later told the press that the district was “heading for very dark times.”
When pressed, Cuevas appeared to promise that the district would descend into “chaos.” His behavior was characterized as “bizarre” by some close observers, and “a product of immaturity” by others.
During his brief tenure as Board President, Cuevas lost his fellow Board members’ confidence and public support when he scheduled a Governing Board meeting at a time when Dr. Stegeman would not be available to attend. He scheduled the meeting in an attempt to subvert the selection of a balanced Selection Committee called for by Arzoumanian. Despite knowing that Stegeman and Hicks would not be available to attend that meeting, Cuevas took advantage of the media’s presence and expressed his surprise that they were not there, and proceeded to attack his fellow Board members.
The young Cuevas had been a pawn in the successful retaliatory effort orchestrated by Adelita Grijalva, Superintendent Pedicone, and recently deceased Judy Burns to remove the befuddled Stegeman from the Board’s presidency this past summer. Stegeman had offered truthful testimony in the district’s appeal of Arizona’s Superintendent Huppenthal’s finding that the district’s Mexican American Studies classes violated state law. In that appeal, Judge Kowal confirmed Huppenthal’s finding.
Stegeman’s testimony, based on his experience in MAS classes, merely echoed what others have found to be the case with the classes. He testified that the classes were highly political, and the students’ classroom activities, statements and behavior resembled the same sort of behavior found by those in mass or cult movements.
In an even more bizarre moment, Cuevas told Dr. Sugiyama and the public that Sugiyama’s support of Stegeman was unfair because Cuevas claimed that had he not “compromised” Sugiyama would not be on the Board. Cuevas was alluding to the fact that Cuevas had voted to support Stegeman’s nominee to Arzoumanian’s Selection Committee. However, at the time of the appointment, Cuevas told the public that he was supporting Stegeman’s popular appointee, Mr. Juan Ciscomani because to do otherwise would risk his political future, which at the time, was at risk due to calls for a recall of Cuevas.
Immediately prior to the vote for Board officers, the Board met in executive session to discuss the district’s loss in the MAS appeal. A public discussion of the district’s options on how to proceed with the matter is expected at the next Board meeting. They are not expected to announce their course of action until after hearing Superintendent Huppenthal’s decision regarding the program.
Dr. Sugiyama told KVOA News that due to the fact that he had just taken an oath to uphold the laws of Arizona, it would be difficult for him to support the MAS classes that Judge Kowal had found to violate state law.
The number of students opting to take the MAS classes has dropped dramatically over the last year. Last year enrollment in the classes was approximately 1200 students, this year it is approximately 270, with an average of only 13 students per class, while traditional classes average about 30 students. Parents by and large have rejected the curriculum for their children.
Although calls were made for MAS supporters to attend tonight’s meeting, only a handful of TUSD and non-TUSD students were in attendance.