Tucson Unified School District governing board candidate Miguel Cuevas is calling for the resignation for Superintendent H.T. Sanchez. Cuevas issued a press release on Monday calling for the resignation after lengthy discussions with current and former TUSD employees and community members.
He stated, “If I return to the TUSD Board, I will call for Superintendent HT Sanchez’ resignation. The majority of the current TUSD Board is not holding Superintendent Sanchez accountable for multiple instances of abuse of power. Superintendent Sanchez knowingly recommended hiring the current TUSD Board Chairperson’s mother-in-law without disclosing the relationship prior to the Board vote, he recommended hiring a consultant that he used as a reference in his personal resume and with whom he had multiple discussions prior to the bid being awarded. Dr. Sanchez continues to mismanage TUSD’s budget by overspending despite numerous warnings of the potential grave consequences by TUSD financial officers. Additionally, there are multiple accusations of mistreatment of TUSD employees by the superintendent.”
In his statement Cuevas expresses concern about the high turnover of TUSD Superintendents. However he questions whether the stability of the district is at greater risk should Dr. Sanchez be allowed to keep his job.
Cuevas says he will recommend hiring policies, which include additional employee involvement, visitation of the candidates’ current employers and the implementation of a citizens advisory committee. Sanchez’s hiring was crammed through with little community involvement of vetting by board president Adelita Grijalva.
Cuevas, a democrat, is a former TUSD board member. He stood up to the proponents of the former Mexican American Studies classes in which at risk students were indoctrinated by political ideologues. For his defense of children, he lost his re-election bid, but won the admiration of many educators in and out of TUSD.