Let Them Eat Cake (or Pie from Julian): a student's opinion

From the Student Newspaper: The Lance

Hilltop High School June 2009

Dr. Jesus Gandara:

Marie Antoinette of the SUHSD

By: Dylan Chase Editor-in-Chief

Ed. Note: The following is an editorial. Please refer to the disclaimer on Page 8 for clarification.

Admitting a mistake can be a difficult thing to do, but the Sweetwater Union board of trustees may need to do just that in regards to their hiring of current Sweetwater Union Superintendent Dr. Jesus Gandara, three years ago. After being chosen in 2006 as the right man to bring stability, unity, and hope to the largest secondary school district in the nation, Dr. Gandara has proceeded to prove himself completely out of touch with the workers of his district and consistently abusive of the powers granted him by his lofty position. Dr. Gandara has often been accused of acting without outside support, ignoring budgetary constraints, and disregarding the pleas of his teachers, and his track record generally speaks in support of these sentiments. In these particular times of struggle, it’s become clear that Gandara is not the man to lead us out of our district’s current situation of political and economic uncertainty; his recent personnel reassignments and repeated financial fumbles paint a picture of a superintendent who is unfit to helm our district.

Direct evidence of Gandara’s indifference to his teachers’ struggles comes in multiple ways, one of them being the way he’s been fiscally insensitive to the recurring budget “crisis” that his school board enjoys preaching about.

It’s not necessary to be an economist to realize that times are tough financially; flip on any number of doom-forecasting economic channels on television or peruse the latest stock readings on the pages of any major newspaper, and what you’ll find are signs of an economy in serious trouble. On a more immediate level, Hilltop life has recently been affected by these economic woes partly in the form of several teachers receiving pink slips earlier in the year. Under the strain of enormous budget cuts and federal funding failures, Dr. Gandara’s office attempted to salvage the budget by issuing notices of possible dismissal to over 121 district teachers. These pink slips were rescinded when the district received over 12 million in federal stimulus money, but the fact remains that our economic conditions nearly forced many of our finest teachers into relocation or, worse—early retirement. This close call enraged many teachers who felt that the widespread notices of dismissal were a knee-jerk reaction that have only added to the “climate of fear” that Gandara’s reign has come to be known for. Now, as the foremost figure in our district’s school affairs, Dr. Gandara would be expected in this harsh climate to be a man of economic frugality, a role model of self-sufficiency, and shining example of how to persevere in tough times. With so many teachers nearly falling to the budgetary guillotine, you would expect a man who carries a $240,000 salary to show profound sympathy for those below him on the totem pole by, perhaps, pulling the personal purse strings a little bit tight. However, these expectations would remain unfulfilled; judging from Gandara’s spending habits over the last two years on district credit cards, it seems as if our tenuous budget has been lost altogether on our superintendent.

The Lance was recently provided with documents that outlined Gandara’s spending on a district issued credit card from August 2007 to January 2009. The results showcase his true detachment from this supposed budget crisis. In these documents, it’s exposed to us that Gandara rarely shied away from the big check at the restaurant or the sky-high rate at a luxurious hotel, with all of the freewheeling coming at the District expense.

Firstly, further opinion should be prefaced with the acknowledgement of Mr. Gandara’s right to a daily stipend for food, transportation, and lodging. Nearly all district employees are provided with a personal fund when on business outings that grants them the power to generally spend how they please, and Superintendent Gandara’s right to the same privileges shouldn’t be brought into question. The man has meetings and functions to attend across a number of state lines, and any job that requires as much travel as his is going to result in some hefty credit charges. Now, with all of this out of the way, it seems clear that Gandara’s expenditures on the district dime border on the exploitative.

The most off-putting evidence of Gandara’s questionable spending comes in the form of his multiple charges at restaurants, with him sometimes going out to eat on the district visa more than one time on a single day. In multiple instances, he is recorded as having dined at three separate restaurants within the same day. All across the board, Gandara has paid for restaurant charges that usually exceeded what is necessary for a single person, usually eating out ten to eleven times a month on his allotted card. In the month of February 2008 alone he spent $535 solely on dining, falling right in line with restaurant totals of $477 and $439 during other months throughout the last two-odd years. Now, not to mock a grown man for a voracious appetite, but Gandara appears to be eating comfortably off a platter set out by taxpayers and it’s insulting that a man who attracts such a handsome salary would find it fit to routinely spend upwards of $50 on food in a single setting. It might seem like nitpicking, but there are surely a number of frustrated teachers who would perceive Gandara, say, dropping nearly twenty bucks at the Hilton bar as a brazen slap in the face. If the budget constraints were sufficient reason for him to dole out pink slips, like numbers at a delicatessen, shouldn’t they have been enough reason for him refrain from spending that could be considered unnecessary? After all, teachers have sometimes been forced by lack of funding to dip into their own pocketbooks in order to fund class activities, so how can Gandara in good conscience take advantage of every amenity available to him?

Many will argue that Gandara’s spending is not of public concern, and that he’s entitled to spend the provided money in the way he sees fit. Gandara has certainly earned the right to live a comfortable life, but it’s entirely inappropriate for him to be dining out at regularly and enjoying the amenities of upper-class hotels when teachers have been wringing their hands in anticipation of the administrative axe falling down all year. In a climate where respected teachers are getting the boot without outside backing and money is often scarce, Gandara is acting like a Marie Antoinette figure, complete with financial irresponsibility and social insensitivity. Dr. Gandara has been facing a recent rash of controversy as it is, and these monetary indiscretions only bring his integrity –along with the integrity of the entire school board –further into question. A few weeks ago, the school board raised a firestorm by terminating the contract of ultra-popular and universally respected Karen Janney. Janney was California’s 2004 Principal of the Year for her work at Montgomery High in Otay Mesa; her demotion and eventual release provoked widespread outrage from district teachers and parents and a petition was circulated this past month among her backers that gathered 500 signatures in support of her reinstatement. Her firing is part of a long string of Gandara’s gaffes that caused his opponents to compose a 1300- signature petition calling for his termination as Superintendent. Add this to his firing of Assistant Superintendent Dianna Carberry and Gandara has, within a two month span, axed the two highest-ranking instructional leaders beneath him on the district food chain.

Clearly, Gandara’s employing a Stalinistic approach to school politics: eliminating any and all threats to his autocratic position of power. Besides issuing the aforementioned petition, the teachers union has banded together with the other five employee unions in the SUHSD to cast a collective vote of no-confidence against Gandara, which is a show of disapproval that was never before seen in our district’s history. All across the SUHSD, teachers can be heard voicing their collective disdain for Gandara; some cite his inability to settle a contract with the teachers union in more than a year of negotiations, others take offense to his political firings, but almost all of them are tired of his tactics of intimidation in district dealings.

Sam Lucero, President of the Sweetwater Education Association (the SUHSD teachers union) said of our Superintendent: “The very, very essential character of our district has changed since Superintendent Gandara has come on board. Whereas there was a very collegial, collaborative relationship, now it has deteriorated to one of fear and intimidation. Obviously that’s not healthy for a public school setting.”

Hilltop economics and German teacher Rick Ludwig takes similar offense to the district’s actions in dealing with teachers, stating, “The idea that it is an acceptable ploy of the district to toy with peoples’ financial security by a blanket layoff notice only to later ‘grant’ them their employment opportunity again with rescind notices is contemptuous. The philosophy that the staff exists and performs for and by the good grace of SUHSD is sheer political arrogance and fail to recognize our true collective purpose of educating our young.”

Dr. Gandara was hired to bring prosperity to this district, and what’s resulted, almost inarguably, is a disaster. His political maneuvering, gross personal misconduct, and authoritative chest-pounding had left no doubt that he is a man undeserving of his position. Admitting a mistake is indeed a difficult thing to do, but if the district hopes to reconcile the nasty position it’s found itself in, they would best be advised to heed the public cries calling for the job of Jesus Gandara.

For more information concerning education-related budget cuts, the SEA, district controversy, and all things Gandara, go to the union’s website at http://www.seacta.org/

All opinions and viewpoints expressed in The Lance are in no way representative of Hilltop High School, its students, its faculty, or the Sweetwater Union as a whole.