Bobby Garcia and Louie Gonzales hit the Big Easy as things get tougher for students and teachers
While three Sunnyside Unified School District Board members took a tour in the City of New Orleans as part of the National School Board Association annual conference on Saturday morning, Eric Giffin and Beki Quintero, candidates in the Sunnyside Recall Election, met with community members who are outraged by the expensive trip and ongoing fiscal mismanagement.
SUSD Governing Board Clerk Louie Gonzales, Board members Bobby Garcia, and Eva Carrillo Dong are spending the District’s money to attend the conference with staff for total estimated cost to the District of over $15,000.
The NSBA conference, known as the premier event at which companies which make up the educational industrialized complex sell the latest gimmicks and gadgets to school districts across the country while vendors wine and dine the purse string holders in order to grease the procurement skids.
“$65 lunches, 5 star hotels and Bourbon Street while our kids have lost their librarians and music and art teachers. It is insensitivity like this that is a perfect example of why Bobby Garcia is not the kind of Board member the Sunnyside needs,” said Beki Quintero, a candidate against Bobby Garcia in the recall election, who joined community members on Saturday at the District’s Central Office.
In order to maintain their lavish spending on administration, drastic cuts have been made on the school level. The over $4.5 million dollars in cuts and have included: laying off of half of the maintenance department, closing of Chapparal Middle School, closing of Los Ranchitos Elementary School, firing of half of the district Music and Art teachers, firing of librarians.
The cuts, proposed by Superintendent Manuel Isquierdo, have been approved by Garcia and Gonzales.
“At a time when Louie Gonzales has asked staff to tighten their belts and share the pain caused by his poor choices it is highly disrespectful to staff and the Sunnyside community that he is going on an extravagant trip at the expense of the district. I ask him to do the right thing and refund the district the expense and apologize to the people whose jobs have been lost.” said Eric Giffin candidate against Sunnyside Governing Board Clerk Louie Gonzales.
On Saturday morning, for those not taking in the WWII Memorial or St. Charles Parish schools, NSBA attendees listened to Thomas Friedman, columnist for The New York Times. Friedman according to Foreign Policy magazine, “Friedman doesn’t just report on events; he helps shape them.”
Mostly, it is the vendors and the Drum Circle that are the big draw for administrators and their tag along board members. Vendors ranging from ARAMARK Education, which offers a range of food, facility, uniform and goods and services to more than 500 K-12 school districts in the U.S, to Kaplan K12 Learning Service, which makes money on testing services, and Zeager, a manufacturer offering a variety of recreation surfaces such as RecGrass and RecMat, offer cheap and not so cheap shiny trinkets to entice the deep pockets.
Meanwhile, the SUSD students live in the 8th poorest metropolitan area in the country, and more than 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Of those, only a handful will ever have the opportunity to see the WWII Memorial in their state’s Capitol just north up the road two hours, much less imagine having an opportunity to visit the Big Easy.
Sunnyside’s a administration is expert at spending lavishly on gimmicks and gadgets without date demonstrating an effectiveness at improving test scores or graduation rates. Just this last fall, Superintendent Isquierdo shocked the public when he told a group of SUSD, TUSD, and City of Tucson staff that he didn’t care if the group’s effort to graduate drop outs succeeded as long as the drop outs’ bodies were in classrooms generating state per pupil funding.
It is the way the District spends that funding that has raised so many eyebrows and concerns across Arizona.
According to the Auditor General’s Dollars in the Classroom annual report, in the past five years, Sunnyside has decreased the amount spent in the classroom from 55.2 to 48.9 percent. The District has an overall “C” grade from the Arizona Department of Education, with the majority of the individual schools receiving a “C” or “D” grade.
It is for that reason, among many, that three long time Sunnyside neighborhood residents have stepped forward to run in the SUSD recall election: Beki Quintero, Eric Giffin, and Mike Polak.
Beki Quintero is a lifetime resident of the Sunnyside district and has been involved in programs like Pima County’s Community Justice Board, the Graffiti Abatement Program, Sunnyside Neighborhood Association’s All-American Awards, and the Peace Garden in Manuel Herrera Jr. Park. She is currently past President of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association.
Eric Giffin was first elected to the Sunnyside Governing Board in 1994 and served until 2010. He earned a Master of Boardsmanship from the Arizona School Board Association, and served on many committees at the local, state and national levels of the Arizona School Boards Association, the National School Boards Association, and the Council of Urban School Boards. He served as Governing Board President for 2 years, and Clerk of the Governing Board for several years.
Mike Polak is an eight year Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps., and a resident of Tucson for over 4 years. Married for twelve years to his wife Nerisa Polak, they have five children and three grandchildren, of which a daughter who attends the Sunnyside School District. Mike has a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering and a Diploma as a Computer Networking Specialist from the Southern California Institute of Technology in Anaheim California.
NSBA Annual Conference brochure highlights include:
“Because most of the city’s restaurants, attractions, tours, accommodations, and event venues are within walking distance of each other, it’s easy to get around the “Big Easy” and is the perfect setting for networking. Within the 12-blocks of the historic French Quarter, come enjoy the charm of New Orleans, all while attending a successful meeting in the Crescent City, Sportsman’s Paradise…the Big Easy. New Orleans combines big city choices with the small town friendliness. Your exploration of the many sensory extravagances that endure in the unique city of New Orleans begins here — enjoy the journey and laissez les bons temps rouler — let the good times roll!”
Reaching Common Ground with Difficult People: Strategies for Making High Stakes Leadership Team Decisions
Presenter: Winton I. Goodrich, Goodrich Consulting and Facilitation Co.
Drum Circle — Sponsored by Namm Foundation
Back by popular demand! Join us for an interactive drum circle experience. Revive, renew, and realize your own creative potential through the power of music. Experience some basic facilitation techniques used for building camaraderie and support, reducing stress, and empower student achievement. No experience necessary.
Google-licious: How to Find Anything on the Internet
Back by popular demand, Jim Spellos will present his Google-licious session that has been so overwhelmingly popular since being introduced in 2009. This session is for everyone, from Google novices to pros interested in learning how to use various search tools to find what you need, when you need it.
Louisiana Lagniappe (lan-yap): Site Visit to St. Charles Parish Public Schools
Lagniappe means a little something extra, which is exactly what you’ll experience during your day in St. Charles Parish Public Schools, one of the state’s top districts. Visit a newly renovated, technology rich, community oriented elementary school and immerse yourself in the Wetland Watcher experience, a nationally recognized service learning program for wetlands conservation managed by middle school students. After a taste of south Louisiana cuisine, conclude your visit at the district’s unique Satellite Center, where cutting-edge technologies create an authentic learning environment for students to work alongside actual clients as they explore future careers. Lunch and transportation provided.
New School Board Member Boot Camp Pre-Conference Session: Ethics, Board Meetings, and the Role of a School Board Member
Ethical and appropriate behavior for school board members is expected. Yet, problems arise during meetings that can interfere with the important work getting accomplished. Interact with your colleagues in a mock school board meeting conducted by members of the NSBA Board Member Boot Camp Faculty to examine what works and what doesn’t in your meetings. Facilitated by: Kitty Blumsack, Director of Board Development, Maryland Association of Boards of Education; Terry McCabe, Consultant and Former Associate Executive Director, Maine School Boards Association. Advance registration and an additional $75 fee are required for the pre-conference Board Member Boot Camp session.
NSBA’s Annual Technology Innovation Showcase Showdown
This fast-paced session will introduce new approaches to old problems from emerging companies identified by NSBA’s Technology Leadership Network. Each company will have only five minutes to tell you what they are solving and give a snapshot of their solution. Audience insights and reactions are key to this interactive session designed for those who embrace innovation! Presenter: Ann Flynn, Director, Education Technology, National School Boards Association