Taos Education: Social Responsibility and Cruel Taosenos
The lay-offs aimed at Taos School District personnel, both teachers and non-classified personnel, bring up several points of interest for the general public.
The Taos Municipal Schools (TMS) administrators have been in denial about declining enrollment during the last decade. Even as student attendance dropped, administrative salaries continued to rise and the district continued to hire more teachers. In a panic-stricken decision, last week letters of termination were delivered helter-skelter to teachers. The only method apparent to the public suggests administrators targeted those without political connections for lay-offs– the teachers and employees they simply don’t like.
As well custodians were laid off, jeopardizing maintenance and repairs. The historic neglect and decay of school buildings by the administration led to the necessity of the last bond election. Now, TMS seems intent on repeating the dismal performance of the past by neglecting new buildings and construction in the future.
Yet, as Gov. Susana Martinez made mention, the TMS board had yet to pass a budget or make the document public even as they terminated personnel. According to our sources, TMS plans to pass the budget this Friday even as administrators continue negotiating with the union. This seems like putting the cart before the horse: Call it faith-based budgeting.
Lest we forget, our most vulnerable students and their families were particularly targeted. One third of the teachers laid off were from the Special Education Department.
While a number of audits confirmed the lack of accountability during the last two years at TMS, the state has also recognized that local administrators have been “gaming the numbers†in the Special Education (SPED) sector: Inflating the number of units by exaggerating the needs of students. Information has leaked out suggesting that a surplus of federal dollars aimed largely at servicing SPED students was unspent a month or so prior to the end of the school year. Some of those dollars, reportedly, were used in violation of regulations, to subsidize the transportation department. So TMS continues to short-change the most vulnerable students.
For the last decade parents have complained about their students not receiving mandated federal services. Numerous complaints have been filed with the Office of Civil Rights due to violations. In 2003 a board mandated analysis of TMS showed numerous violations of SPED student rights—confirming anecdotal evidence then. Little has changed.
Due to the arbitrary and capricious nature of the lay-offs, TMS has opened itself up for more litigation. According to teachers and others, decisions about non-tenured faculty and general employees were made without regard to last hired, first fired, qualifications, or quantifiable need. TMS has issued no public statement or guidelines as to how they made decisions.
During the Governor’s speech about education on Friday night, May 27, I couldn’t help but think about Celestino Romero, the last republican state legislator to serve the community. He was an elementary school principal and known as a civil and compassionate gentleman for whom CRAB Hall was named. Pobrecito Celestino—your legacy has been muddied by the so-called educators who occupy CRAB Hall.
Due to a lack of in depth and neutral news coverage, a number of myths and volumes of misinformation surround the public schools crisis. Here’s how we understand the local education system.
1. This crisis is homegrown—it’s not a function of party politics.
2. The elected board exercises little authority over administrative decisions due to statutory regulations.
3. Decisions about hiring and firing are made on the basis of politics—not merit or qualification.
4. Most administrators are inexperienced in the classroom and care little about the “education of students†but much about their paychecks.
5. Revenue and reimbursements from capital bonds for construction or from the federal government come with strict guidelines and cannot be spent—legally–to fill up holes in the budget.
6. Budget deficits could be alleviated with a combination of site-based management, attrition, and retirement by vested teachers.
Today’s schools require sophisticated and complex responses to student issues. The small number of academically oriented students with supportive families live in a different world and study in different ways from the majority of students. The latter are just trying to survive the system. The increasing popularity of the GED underscores the flexibility and alternative methods of managing one’s education and surviving until ready for the next step into adulthood. Aggressive students soar with little but encouragement. The majority struggle, as we all do, with hormones, appetites, family crises, the usual travails of life.
But a society is judged on the way it treats its most vulnerable members, whether they are casualties of birth or products of an uncivil society i.e. the Special Needs student. Today a SPED teacher must function as a nurse, truant officer, and social psychologist combined. One must have inordinate patience, personal gifts, and extra training to be a good SPED teacher. It’s not a job but a calling–like being a spiritual or medical healer, a good priest or a wise country doctor. In Taos the schools serve as an important part of the social service community.
The grasping and callous administrators, led by Super Rob Weston and board president Thomas Tafoya of TMS and their lackeys at CRAB Hall, demonstrate an inordinate contempt for vulnerable children and their families. While the administrators first inflated the numbers to pump up the budget, they also restricted services. Now they are laying off the teachers kids need most.
One hundred fifty teachers and supporters demonstrated in reaction to the secret CRAB Hall decisions. The Governor spoke of her support for teachers and the single board member with the courage to speak up. We don’t know what will happen next. But we sure need a new sheriff at TMS.
Agenda 6-3-11