David Safier

by David Safier

Before I jump into criticism of the Star on an unrelated topic, let me compliment the paper for its excellent series of articles on poverty. Would that newspaper budgets were ample enough that reporters could be granted the time to do more series like this. Having said that . . .

What's with the Star article about the new TUSD Supe H.T. Sanchez? This "investigative" piece uncovers the information that Sanchez asked the Human Resources Director in his Odessa, Texas, school district to look over the contract Tucson offered him. The HR Director passed the question on to an employment law attorney. The article was written by a reporter for the Odessa American, where they undoubtedly hold a grudge against Sanchez for leaving. Star reporter Alexis Huicochea contributed to the article.

Sanchez used his Odessa district email to conduct personal business, which isn't against the rules. It's not like he was running a contracting business out of his office. He was asking a specific question about his proposed TUSD contract. Sanchez may or may not have written the email on company time. He says he didn't, but even if he did, somehow the fact that a superintendent who doesn't punch a time clock and probably puts in all kinds of hours during school days, nights and weekends did some personal business on "company time" isn't exactly a hanging offense.

Sanchez asked someone he knew and trusted in the district to help him understand the contract TUSD offered him. That's a problem, how exactly? Anyone with any sense is going to have someone look over a big contract like that, and the district HR guy would have a hell of a lot more knowledge about contracts than the superintendent. The HR guy passed Sanchez's question onto a lawyer, which was the right thing to do.

My question is, in what way is this story news in Tucson?

by David Safier The results are in from New York where students took Common Core-based tests rather than the tests the state has been administering for years. The new tests, which are similar to ones that will eventually be rolled out in Arizona, are tougher, and the significantly lower numbers are unsurprising to anyone who … Read more

by David Safier A simply terrific column by Sarah Garrecht Gassen in today's Star. It's about Walter Douglas Elementary in the Flowing Wells district. But really, it's about what schools and teachers and administrators and bus drivers (and secretaries and cafeteria workers and custodians, though they're not mentioned) bring to students' lives. You won't find … Read more

by David Safier This is one of the best distillations of the birth of the conservative "education reform" movement and the demonization of teachers and public schools I have read: How a Crackpot Education Reform Theory Became National Policy. In future generations, historians are likely to tell the following story. Some time during the early … Read more

by David Safier I'll be doing my monthly Blogger Beat discussion with Bill Buckmaster on his radio show:  KVOI, 1030AM, 12-1PM. Likely topics: districts setting up charter schools; new TUSD Supe H.T. Sanchez (here's a post I wrote about Sanchez's recent response to Huppenthal) and the cracks in Arizona's once-monolithic wall of Republican ideological purity.