Star editorial gives Huppenthal what for. UNIDOS op ed agrees

by David Safier

Using phrases like "flimsy conclusion," "had to ignore the clear findings of outside auditors" and "disconnect," today's Star editorial takes Huppenthal apart for his anti-MAS decision.

My favorite part is where the editorial talks about Huppenthal's press conference before the audit was released, where he pretended the audit supported his actions.

The disconnect helps explain his awkward dance at the press conference Wednesday in Phoenix, where he tried to keep the focus on what he described as a large-scale and longstanding failure of the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board and administration to properly supervise the MAS program.

He would be asked, repeatedly, about the specific provisions of the law he determined TUSD is violating – the one commonly known as HB 2281 – and he would turn the conversation back to the curriculum development process.

It didn't make sense.

When you read the full audit, the problem is obvious. Huppenthal was proclaiming TUSD to have violated a state law, A.R.S. 15-112, while simultaneously releasing an independent audit that explicitly states that TUSD has not violated A.R.S. 15-112.

The editorial agrees with the audit that the MAS materials and curriculum should be reviewed and possibly revised. I have no objections to that idea, especially since I haven't looked into the program's materials and curriculum, but that is an in-house concern, something TUSD can consider separate from the racist drumbeat coming out of Phoenix.

Asiya Mir and Ryan Velasquez, members of the student-led group, UNIDOS, penned a strong op ed as well, which the Star should be congratulated for publishing on such short notice (Some information was only available yesterday, so I'm guessing the completed op ed was submitted late Thursday). Here are the closing paragraphs, which, I have to say, I find stirring.

Huppenthal and the state may attempt to destroy our classes through discriminatory political distortions, but they can never lock us out of our education, history and culture.

As the UNIDOS Youth Coalition, we will continue organizing for social justice.

Huppenthal's political position is temporary, but our movement for human and civil rights will continue to flourish until our community bears witness to a society based on the values of social justice, equality and respect for all of humanity.

Any children of the 60s (guilty as charged) who say, "Kids today don't care about things like we did," should look at these fine young people and find hope in the potential passion and social concern of today's youth.