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| Since December 22, 2004 |
The Kiko Award
On Tuesday, September 25 a cry rang out across the Santa Clara Valley as 965 East Side pink slip recipients erupted in unison “WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?!”
While there were a number of petty tyrants and corrupt edu-despots worthy of the infamous Kiko award for this issue of the Advocate, they all took a back seat to four of the five trustees on the Alisal Union School District in Salinas, California. The Alisal 4 took a huge step into infamy when they voted to give the inspiration for the Kiko award and this website another shot at being a public school superintendent.
Seriously. Does anyone in Salinas have internet access? (read here:
).
Close that gaping jaw East Side or Indianapolis public educator. Nary a one of you should be surprised that California’s most egotistic public school administrator in recent history got a new job. The infamous Esperanza Zendejas knows how to control the narrative. That’s why she keeps herself in the media spotlight. Her life story compels audiences, she’s been revered as a role model in spite of her professional controversies, and if all else fails she can default to the tried and true argument that there are two sides to every story.
There’s the other more sinister possibility that the Alisal school board actually did their research before they hired her. Type her name into Google and the Indy Star story comes up first, then the Unruly Advocate. It’s not that hard to miss. She was hired relatively quickly after her abrupt East Side departure. Why didn’t the story of her tenure impact her hiring then?
The subtext of the main article from the Salinas Californian announcing her ascension provides some interesting clues (read the article here:). Zendejas did not have the full support of the board. Board member Jose Castaneda was the lone dissenter on the 4-1 decision. Nor did the public have input on the decision to hire the Grand Ventriloquist. In fact, taking action on hiring a superintendent was on the agenda, but Zendejas’ name was not specified. That implies a little pre-meeting off-site discussion took place prior to the official public announcement.
When The Unruly Advocate went looking for other Zendejas-style despots decimating morale in public schools we found quite a few characters with ulterior motives. Few superintendents and board members manage from the heart, as Zendejas herself once claimed. In an era when teachers can do no right, it isn’t a great leap to suspect someone on the Alisal school board wants to force the principals to crack a whip over the teachers under their direct supervision. Just look at the way the Alisal board treated one of their former superintendents. They hired, fired, and rehired him in a matter of five months. (read here:)
As has been the case time and time again, the final interpretation of the Alisal 4’s motive boils down to two possibilities: stupid or evil. Did they fail to do the research before they offered her a 4 year, 160k contract (stupid) or did they know what they were buying (evil)?
The silver lining for us is no lawyer could ever successfully argue a libel case against The Unruly Advocate. Our unruliness didn’t prevent her from getting a job. If you’re so inclined, you can check out the Alisal school board here: And so, without further ado, we award Gary Karnes, Juan Flores, Jesus Velasquez, and Guadalupe Ruiz-Gilpas the coveted Kiko award.
All we give to trustee Jose Castenada is our respect. It’s nice to know there are still a few public officials with a little integrity. Thanks for showing a little backbone.
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