by David Safier
Ed Supe Tom Horne is taking a beating in the Tucson press. KOLD went after him pretty hard after his "I haven't read the report, but I can play the race card anyway" news conference. Now a Star editorial is calling him on it too.
The headline says it pretty well.
Schools chief criticizes what he knows little about
Tried to bluff your way through your book report by reading the Cliff Notes, Tom? What will we tell the children?
Here are a few choice excerpts.
Horne's misunderstanding of TUSD's Post-Unitary Status Plan — which is required by the court as part of a federal desegregation case — combined with his stated animosity toward the TUSD Governing Board has skewed his perception and led him to try to interfere, yet again, in the operations of a school district.
[snip]
Because the plan, by necessity, mentions race and the need to monitor disciplinary actions to make sure that students are being treated equally, Horne pushes the false notion that discipline will be handed out according to ethnicity.
Horne told the Star at his Wednesday press conference that he had not read the 52-page TUSD Post-Unitary Status Plan, nor had he called or contacted TUSD officials who could answer questions or explain the provisions in the plan.
On Thursday, he told us that he had relied on newspaper accounts for his understanding of the plan. Horne said he read a column in The Arizona Republic last week — one that so grossly mischaracterized the plan that TUSD has demanded a retraction — and read Star accounts.
Pandering to the crazy base makes fools of them all, even a Harvard educated lawyer like Tom. Yes, to the university's shame, he is a Harvard educated lawyer. How do these guys look at themselves in the mirror?
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By the way, given how often the ADS writes inaccurate and inflammatory articles about TUSD, their editorial feels a little bit like a big brother defending a younger sibling from a bully. Only the big bro is allowed to slug his brother!
Unfortunately, for the children of this state Tom Horne has run the Arizona Department of Education into the ground. The ADE can’t hold onto competent employees because they can’t stand working for the guy. The IT department is in disarray and is openly loathed by other ADE employees. When districts struggle to meet ADE deadlines, State staffers demand strict adheres to timelines and rules, yet consistently and unapologetically make mistakes and miss deadlines themselves. Hopefully Tom’s replacement will be a competent administrator. Eight years of a race-baiting ideologue is enough.