Extending Tenure + Eliminating Due Process X Despotic Carpetbagger Paradigm = Mass Exodus: Why You Should Vote No on Proposition 74

Phil Yost, inefficacious opiner for the San Jose Mercury News, recently argued that the general CTA position claiming Schwarzenegger’s special election was a waste of money should be sufficient in persuading the public to vote no on his initiatives instead of the Chicken Little “sky is falling” line that union busting propositions silence teacher voices. He used proposition 74 for his example, and postulated a mere two differences between the law as it stands now and the changes that will occur if 74 passes. First, obviously, the tenure period will be five years instead of two. The crux of his argument, however, centers on what he considers a negligible change in a teacher’s due process. As the law currently stands, a tenured teacher found to be incompetent by a school’s administration will remain in his or her position until all appeals are exhausted. Under proposition 74, a teacher who receives two consecutive negative evaluations will automatically lose a teaching position, but could be reinstated if, after successive appeals, the teacher’s dismissal is found to be unwarranted. Yost thinks this change is subtle, though one wonders how changing a system from the democratic “innocent until proven guilty” to the autocratic “sorry about the mortgage payment, we regret the error” can be termed subtle.

Team Unruly knows why Yost cannot recognize the fallacy of his pretzel logic. To do so would mean the Mercury News editorial board has to come clean and admit that in the East Side Union High School District superintendent horse race, they shot their credibility wad betting the 75-1 longshot would succeed. In other words, Yost does not see the problem with the negative evaluation component of proposition 74 because his paper supports despotic carpetbaggers.

Big mistake, bwana.

In 2003, the trustees of the ESUHSD applied the Despotic Carpetbagger Paradigm to district management. They decided that in order to give the district a much-needed shake-up they would hire a carpetbagger from Indianapolis with a reputation for “expecting results.” Those charged with hiring her either failed to investigate her employment history or, after a long series of backroom interviews, found the kind of controversial superintendent they had been searching for all along.

To satisfy the insatiable financial demands of the carpetbagger, the East Side trustees gave Esperanza Zendejas a starting salary 25% higher than that of her predecessor, on top of a 400k home loan at 2% interest. Two years later, the board would suffer buyer’s remorse and negotiate a settlement to terminate her contract.

It was Zendejas’ autocratic management style that, in the end, did her in. She was famous for demoralizing site principals and berating district administrative underlings. Her belligerence drove a handful of administrators into early retirement or to seek employment in neighboring districts. Only a couple of administrators bothered to alert the board to her management problems, but even then they did so privately. It was the teachers who stood up and repeatedly warned the board that they hired a despot whose incompetence and bullying was destroying morale. Sadly, it took two years for the board to act, and no one has yet figured out the extent of the damage caused by this despotic carpetbagger.

Of course, the unnecessary layoff of over 80% of the district’s workforce forced the board to act. But they were also spurred to action on the litany of complaints raised by teachers for well over a year. Team Unruly attended most of the board meetings and other district functions where teachers had an open forum to air concerns. In a year ripe with political turmoil, only one non-tenured teacher publicly spoke out against Zendejas at a board meeting.

Look at it by the numbers. Over 1200 teachers work in the ESUHSD. 966 of them were pink slipped last year. Only one non-tenured teacher publicly addressed the board of trustees.

New teachers working to achieve tenure tend not to speak out against corruption and managerial malfeasance. They are overwhelmed with planning classes, finishing credential coursework, and generally getting acclimated to the profession. Often they don’t know enough about a district’s political challenges to make a public comment. They will, however, react to political turmoil—and their resumes will do the talking. This summer, the East Side Union High School District witnessed a mass exodus of new teachers who found positions in districts not managed under the dictates found in the Despotic Carpetbagger Paradigm. Oak Grove High School, for example, lost 12 new teachers, an enormous loss given the difficulty schools have in retaining quality teachers ().

According to an update from teacher’s union president Don McKell, 100 tenured and non tenured teachers left the district last year.

As school districts struggle to make sure they comply with the No Child Left Behind mandate that all teachers be “highly qualified,” i.e. fully credentialed, empowering a despot is a sure fire way for schools to fall out of compliance—and face losing federal dollars. If proposition 74 passes, a greater number of teachers will be considered temporary employees simply because it will take longer to earn tenure. If they follow the trend outlined above, even fewer teachers will speak out against administrative despotism.

In other words, Esperanza Zendejas would still be sitting in the East Side captain’s chair at 830 North Capitol Ave., a concealed weapon tucked away in a drawer, surrounded by a wall of hidden microphones all paid for with district dollars ().

The mass exodus equation will not only affect the non-tenured. When teachers feel they do not have a voice in district affairs, even the more experienced ones head for less tumultuous pastures.

Take Cupertino Unified, for example. In 1997, CUSD added The Despotic Carpetbagger Paradigm to their management philosophy repertoire and hired William Bragg away from the Oceanside school district. Once Bragg unpacked the carpetbag, his autocratic tendencies, coupled with managerial incompetence that led to some of the lowest teacher salaries in the county contributed to perhaps the largest local teacher exodus on record. ().

Imagine what will happen when despots like Zendejas—well-known for formulating an enemies list—and Bragg get the power to dismiss any teacher who earns two consecutive poor performance evaluations. Is there anyone unconvinced that a superintendent willing to suppress public information to keep her strongest board supporter free from public scrutiny () or one who fails to address the concerns of staff and parents () wouldn’t abuse this authority to eliminate their harshest teacher critics? Are you ready for the consequences of further empowering a despot? Vote no on 74.