“Too bad, Judy that they are so well meaning and exploited.” – Email dated April 28, from Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Pedicone in response to email from TUSD Board member Judy Burns in which she describes the student takeover as “pretty impressive.”
County Board of Supervisor Richard Elias, Pima County legal defender Isabel Garcia, Miguel Ortega, and Roberto “Dr. Cintli” Rodriquez’s group the “Mexican American Advisory Committee” scrambled to hold a press conference today in front of the TUSD central offices, “in defense of the Mexican American Studies program at TUSD.”
TUSD Governing Board member Adelita Grijalva was in attendance to ask the public to support further appeals by the district. The last appeal cost the district over $180,000 in legal bills.
Richard Elias has joined other conspiracy theorists in his claim to the rabid racist blogger David Abie Morales, otherwise known as the Three Sonorans that, “The whole process was fixed from the beginning” referring to the audit which found that the classes had too much political content, the lengthy review by Huppenthal’s office which found the classes in violation, and the lengthy appeal hearing in which Judge Lewis Kowal confirmed Huppenthal’s finding.
Supervisor Elias can be seen opening the door to allow radicals from outside TUSD to takeover the now infamous, April 26 Governing Board meeting. Isabel Garcia can be seen yelling at a district security guard that if he “lays one hand” on the students taking over the meeting she will “have him arrested.”
Richard Elias is best known for his involvement in the district’s Promotoras scandal. That enterprise allowed Title One funds, intended for children living in poverty and their literacy needs, to be funneled to the “education” of undocumented women earning a certificate in “community organizing” at Pima Community College. Elias supported the program, and when advised that it was going to be ended and exposed, he claimed that he would simply fund it through the county.
Garcia’s organization Derechos Humanos supplied the undocumented women for the Promotoras program.
The TUSD employee who ran this illegal program for the district, Roseanne Bullock, left the district when the investigation of the program became public, and soon thereafter was appointed by Elias to serve on a County advisory group. Although federal officials cannot confirm or deny it, it is believed that the matter is still under investigation. The district was fined over $3.5 million for the misues of funds by the Arizona Department of Education. It is unclear whether the district’s attempt to negotiate a lower amount was successful.
Roberto “Dr. Cintli” Rodriguez has profited from the classes by selling his book, “The X in La Raza” to the district for the classes. In the X in La Raza, Cintli’s conspiracy theories are laid out for students in the district. Cintli argues that the United States stole land from Mexico and the ratified Treaty of Hidalgo is missing the X. Cintli believes that the X allowed for Mexicans to be treated as indigenous to the United States, therefore the ancestors are entitled to land.
Cintli also claims that the Aztecs originated in Utah and migrated south into Mexico. Aztec spirituality is preached in many of the MAS classes according to testimony by district employees in the district’s appeal of the state’s finding that the classes violate state law.
Arizona state standards for teachers do not permit the promotion of any religious doctrine, and promoting the Aztec religion should result in the loss of teaching certificates by anyone who does so. It would certainly result in the loss of teaching certificates for any teacher promoting Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam.
Local television crews showed up to the conference, as well as the rabid racist blogger from the Tucson Citizen, David Abie Morales, but the National Enquirer passed.
As a result of a leak from the district’s Superintendent’s Office, Morales reported that Huppenthal is expected to release his recommendation tomorrow. It is widely known that Dr. Pedicone is the primary source of district news for the Three Sonorans. Morales then produces propaganda which he delivers on the TucsonCitizen.com.
The vast majority of the members of the self appointed and unoffical advisory board have either a political or economic interest in the preservation of the Mexican American Studies program. Members include:
Roberto “Dr. Cintlit” Rodriguez
Elizabeth Soltero
Raul Aguirre
Antonio Estrada, Ph.D.
Beto Guerrero, Ph.D.
Darlane Santa Cruz
Gustavo Chavez
Regina Romero, Tucson City Council
Richard Elias, Pima County Board of Supervisors
Isabel Garcia
Julio Cammarota, Ph.D.
Kim Dominguez
Lupe Romero, Ph.D.
Miguel Ortega
Pepe Barron, Ph.D.
Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith
Ruben Reyes, Congressman Raul Grijalva staffer
Wesley Narro
Augustine Romero, TUSD Equity Director