TUSD Board, Superintendent Told “Shame On You” By Indiana School Board Member

On Tuesday night, Tucson Unified School District Governing Board members were confronted by angry teachers and parents mostly frustrated by the misinformation distributed by the District and its failure to address pressing issues. The Call to the Audience portion of the meeting prompted even one out-of-state board member to speak up and tell the Board, “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“I am a school board member in Indiana,” explained Gwen Hunter, who stated she was in Tucson temporarily to care for her recently widowed mother. “I came here to care for my mom and I see all these signs – political signs, just like we have in Indiana. And I see these signs about the school board. So I go on and do the research and I’m like ‘OMG, I need to come to the school board meeting,’ just so I can go back to Indiana and say ‘wow, we are doing something right and we never want to be like TUSD.’” Hunter then went on to congratulate presenters and programs that had been discussed earlier in the evening including a young man from Rincon who spoke of his veterans’ oral history project, University High School, and the fitness program at Hollinger K-8.

“Our goal at Hamilton,” said Hunter referring to her school district, “it is a much smaller school district, but I think you could learn some things. Our goal is to put money into the classrooms and to attract quality teachers first.” After the applause died down, Hunter continued, “Shame on you guys. Shame on you. Shame on the superintendent. You can’t even look at me,” said Hunter to Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, who had kept his head down during her address. “Shame on you.” Turning her attention to the board, Hunter said, “Those concerns that they talked about,” referring to the long list of earlier speakers, “they have said ‘concerns,’ and as a board member I challenge you to think about what you are going to do. At our school, yes the superintendent is looking into it, but are you checking in? Are you checking in to verify? If not, then shame on you too. I say that administration only tells board members what they want you to know.” Board member Mark Stegeman shook his head vigorously in agreement with Hunter. “So you need to do your due diligence.” Hunter concluded, “Good luck, you’ve made a mess.”

Check back tomorrow for more coverage of the governing board meeting.