Cara Rene’s bullish demeanor finally got the best of her according to sources at the Tucson Unified School District, who report that she recently dared to deny a request by Superintendent H. T. Sanchez in front of his executive team. She has now tendered her resignation.
According to sources, the resignation was tendered on July 8, after a meeting of Sanchez’s Executive Leadership Team.
After that meeting, Rene’s position as Director of Communications, which had reported directly to Sanchez, was placed under the new Chief Information Officer, Damon Jackson.
Jackson served as Chief Technology Officer of the Ector County, Texas, school district under Sanchez. Sanchez was the superintendent of the Ector County Independent School District for a brief time before taking the TUSD position. Sanchez, who is fond of important sounding acronyms, brought much of his “ELT” with him.
According to sources, Sanchez members of the “ELT” are not encouraged to question the little man in front of others; even other “ELT” members.
The position will remain under Jackson, and will now draw a salary of $77,000 a year as opposed to Rene’s salary of $89,000 a year.
Rene’s bulldog style served in her role as flak for the Sanchez and Governing Board president Adelita Grijalva leadership team.
Recently, Sanchez took the district into debt when he decided to create pre-schools for district employees and was legally prohibited from using desegregation funds for the scheme.
In her resignation letter, Rene wrote, “The work has been both challenging and extremely rewarding in letting the community know about the improvements in student achievement and successes in overcoming immense financial challenges.”
In his short time, Sanchez, his “ELT” with the help of carefully selected committee members and virtually no real input from the community, has developed a “Five Year Plan.” Rene wished Sanchez, “much luck” with the unveiling of the Plan.