A Few Thoughts on Baseball, Education, and Politics

On Saturday afternoon, I attended the first baseball game at the new Taos High field, next to the new Taos High football field and track—both facilities completed in the last year. The bond to pay for capital improvements to school buildings and athletic fields was passed by voters in Sept. of 2008. Though they lost, the Taos High Tigers played well. My wife and I were accompanied by son Fitz and his daughter. Fitz, who attended a number of San Francisco Giant games during Barry Bond’s era, remarked on the well-coached Tigers: double plays, hitting the cut-off man, running for the extra base. “It’s a real game, Dad.”

The beautiful warm afternoon without any April wind showed off the view of Taos Mountain. We bought hot dogs from the boosters on the cement apron under the steel awning and watched the adult volunteer groundskeepers fix up the field during the break in the double-header. The parking lot was full of cars. The players have new the dugouts. An easy relaxed atmosphere prevailed.

From the bleachers on the south side of the field, you could also see the iron girders of the new two-story Taos County Complex rising. As the publisher and editor of Horse Fly, I supported the bonds for that new public structure as well as the bonds for the schools. Despite the criticism both county commissioners and school board members receive from time to time, you can see something positive in this rather extraordinary spectacle. As Commissioner Dan Barrone said during the run-up to the bonds, regarding the new jail, “We must take care of our own” (instead of shipping inmates our of town). Board members Lorraine Coca-Ruiz and Arsenio consistently spoke of helping the kids during the campaign for the school bonds.

Members of the Taos Sports Authority argued that athletics and the commitment to new fields would prove that the community cared about student-athletes. Instead of talk, the community needed to show skeptical students and their parents concrete evidence of the commitment to education. Athletics, the arts, and academics are the triad upon which a student receives his or her education: Discipline, Imagination, and Reason. A healthy body and healthy mind go together.

Board members Arsenio Cordova and Lorraine Coca-Ruiz, Commissioner Dan Barrone, Town Councilor Gene Sanchez, and Mayor Darren Cordova all agreed to convene a unique joint meeting between the schools, county, and town to show solidarity in support of the students. In turn, Coca-Ruiz and Cordova managed to secure board approval for a joint-use agreement to turn the vacant school-owned Salazar property into a soccer field to be financed and built by the town: An unusual show of collaborative efforts in Taos.

The school board has completed its football and baseball fields in record time, considering the community’s historic delays re: public works projects.  (The Town of Taos has yet to break ground on what has become one instead  of several soccer fields.) The county rushed ahead only to find out it needed more money for the Complex. Still, the girders are rising. The commissioners have been wearing work gloves.

The Political Price of Reforms

Board members Coca-Ruiz and Cordova have paid dearly for their passion to reform the system–due to biased press coverage and for pushing through a program to build athletic fields and for trying to make administrative reforms. How long must the community wait to confront overall graduation rates of 41%, 37% for Hispanic and 35% for Native American students? School administrators, Citizens for (alleged) Quality Education, and other board members dragged their feet, perceiving Cordova and Coca-Ruiz as a threat to the political status quo.

Fortunately, board member Roy Martinez and then newly elected board member Stella Gallegos supported endeavors on behalf of student athletes and subsequent administrative reforms aimed at facilitating improvements in education. Coca-Ruiz and Cordova have been pilloried for racism in the press and for taking action due to majority decisions based on three-to-two votes. Subsequently and mysteriously, the Mayor has asked the Secretary of Education to remove the board. He has turned against his once and future partners on the Salazar Road soccer field project.

Allegations of racism against Coca-Ruiz and Cordova make no sense. They have tried their best to involve the multi-cultural community. First, they hired a Native American superintendent, who proved inadequate. Second, they hired a Hispanic homeboy, who resigned. Third, they have now hired an Anglo from out of town. The record speaks for itself. Keep trying until you find the right person—regardless of the political cost and negative publicity.

The Taos Schools have built two brand new athletic fields in record time–despite tumultuous board meetings and opposition from administrators, who frequently misrepresent the contents of reports. Due to a lack of cooperation from administrators, a majority of the board has called for a forensic audit and supported the attorney general’s investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud by past administrators.

Despite frequent disagreements and contentious 3-2 votes, the county has moved ahead—like the school board. The Town Council has, allegedly, a coalition of four council members plus a Mayor, who agree on practically everything. But they have yet to break ground on the promised soccer field—a mini project. The schools’ football and track stadium and new baseball field are currently in use. The county complex rises into the sky above Albright St.

El Rio de Denial

One wonders if the staff at The Taos News can see the county complex on the north side of Albright or the Taos High fields on the south side. The excellent weakly is sandwiched in between. I am reminded of Detective Dupin’s discovery of “The Purloined Letter” in the Edgar Allen Poe tale. It was hidden in plain sight.

While the Town has yet to break ground on the soccer fields, the Mayor and DMC Broadcasting have apparently taken sides with The Taos News and failed school administrators against the reform members of the current board. The so-called media find it easier to turn board members into scapegoats than take the responsibility to look at the reasons for a decade long decline at the Taos Schools: See decreasing enrollment, failure to graduate or meet standardized test scores, failure to maintain buildings, failed inventory controls, failure to meet civil rights regulations. The current board inherited these problem sand sought to fix them by focusing on prudent financial management, re-introducing the arts as part of the curriculum, and identifying the importance of athletics to a well-rounded education.

The list of pluses and minuses have been documented and analyzed but neither the media nor the Mayor have taken the time to either attend board meetings or study the real history of why administrators, prior superintendents, and boards have ignored the downward spiral. Now the Mayor has called for removal of the board. Whether due to envidia, political movida-making, or nepotism, the Mayor’s motives are difficult to understand. He has unleashed a public reaction against himself and become part of the problem.

Apparently, the Brown Berets will march on behalf of students and board members–due to alleged civil rights violations on April 15. You might say to yourself but the Hispanic politicos are in charge. The Mayor owns an all-Hispanic radio station. True, but the race to the bottom of the education ladder in New Mexico and Taos is a product of the refusal by New Mexico leaders to recognize the challenges faced by the historic Hispanic rural culture. While some Hispanic students succeed, the majority are being left behind in comparison to even statewide averages, not to mention national standards. Ultimately, the right to an education is considered a “Civl Rights” issue in the United States of America—whether you live in Taos or Alabama—regardless of who is in charge.

In New Mexico and Taos, the politicos grab their goodies, protect their families, and let their homies suffer the indignities of dominant culture class discrimination. Teachers and administrators can be cruel. A few years ago, I did a series on “Special Ed” kids, who had “behavioral problems.” Frequently, parents told me how teachers and administrators, not to mention politicians, labeled kids and said cruel things like—“your parents were no good and you’re no good.” In fact, the same people referred to above frequently said the same things to me about the individuals in question.

Envidia

In private conversations, politicos and appointed officials frequently attribute the failure of the public to agree with a decision because of envidia and they use envidia as an excuse to cover up what they are doing—lest the public understand. But, in my experience and study, the public understands the politicians extremely well. The current factionalism at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe or at the Capitol in Washington D.C., in Afghanistan or in Iraq, can be seen and understood through the lenses worn by Taosenos. The microcosm applies to the macrocosm.

In Taos, a small place, we have the opportunity to hold politicians accountable for their acts. The Mayor’s miss-guided attack on school board members has come to the attention of the Brown Berets and the Hispanic Education Task force as well as the public at large. Even as he has yet to turn a spade of dirt and start building soccer fields, he, apparently has the time to help out developers, who have ignored parciantes on historic acequias, whether on the Spring Ditch or in the Valverde Commons.

Meanwhile the Mayor supports the CRAB Hall elite at the school administration building, where salaries exceed state norms, even as local students have failed during the 2004—2008 cycle to meet New Mexico’s historic low norms for graduation rates—or even Questa’s. Commander Juanito Burns of the Brown Berets has called the march planned for April 15 “symbolic.”

Indeed, the march is symbolic of the failure of the public to educate and support the reforms necessary to turn the tide against despair and poverty. You know, baseball is game or sport that requires discipline, hand-eye coordination, and a knowledge of geometry. On Saturday afternoon in the warm sunshine, I saw Taos High School baseball players execute, according to the rules, and play with hearts and minds full of hope.

We’d like to see the Mayor and Town Council provide the same opportunity for a new generation of soccer players.