 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Since December 22, 2004 |
THE KIKO AWARD
The infamous Kiko Award goes to those education administrators and trustees who place personal gain ahead of the public trust, and who have no problem ruining the lives of the teachers, students and communities they purport to serve. If you are an angry member of the East Side community who thinks Bob Nunez’s coffee reimbursement is shady, brother, you ain’t seen nothin’.
Not that East Side isn’t rife with potential nominees. There’s Alan Garafolo, who appears to be in cahoots with many of the South Bay’s finest land developers and commercial builders — that’s why the SCCOE report on East Side’s accounting practices noted that East Side seemed to be using the same vendors and not taking competitive bids. Alan is no stranger to playing favorites. Rumors abound that Alan shuffles bond funds to punish schools active within the teacher’s union. There’s also East Side’s current Board President Patricia Martinez-Roach, who was so gung ho to hire a private investigator with district funds PRIOR TO ANY PUBLIC CHARGES OF WRONGDOING. Rumor has it Ms. Martinez-Roach sharpened her knife because Nunez planned to lay off over a dozen district administrators, which meant there would be no way for the district to hire back her sister from a neighboring district. Did Nunez pay a political price for a nepotistic faux pas?
Over the last couple of years The Unruly Advocate lost its way. While the site launched during Zendejas’ tenure, The Advocate evolved and took a more global view of education politics to prove that education’s woes stem from the totalitarian abuses of district administrators, education policy makers, and local school board members. Throw a rock in any direction and you’ll find a neighborhood school or a local district mired in some sort of controversy.
This time our rock landed in South Carolina, but failed to smack Kristen Maguire in the head. Nor did it manage to knock any sense into Governor Mark Sanford who appointed Maguire to the state school board (making her the first home-schooling parent to chair a state education board) in an effort to shore up his evangelical base — he was sowing his oats in Argentina when we threw our rock.
The darling of social conservatives throughout the Bible Belt, Maguire worked on the executive committee for the state GOP, where she wrote the party’s education platform. 
Sanford appointed her to the state education board, where she was a strong advocate for abstinence education — and that’s where the fun starts.
According to a report on Fitsnews.com, Maguire, the Christian conservative home-schooling advocate, has a side job and/or hobby writing erotic fiction for X-rated internet sites. Rumor has it she also graced Governor Sanford’s Chief of Staff with a lap dance and did a little provocative undressing for another staffer.
Recent studies contend that abstinence only-education fails as an effective measure to prevent teens from engaging in sexual activity. Advocating a failed policy isn’t Maguire’s crime. Holding one of South Carolina’s highest education administrative posts and telling the public to do as I say, not as I do? That’s pretty bad. Dragging your whole state’s educational establishment into the scandal mire with you? Worse still. It’s time20for Mrs. Maguire to get off her high horse, send her kids to public schools, and drop the sanctimonious crap. We’d tell her to live a little, but it sounds like she’s no stranger to having a good time. Word on the street is she resigned her post “to spend more time with her family.” While she’s at home, she can show everybody her Kiko award.
Preferably after she’s pulled her skirt back down.
RECENT ISSUES |
October 2009 |
An Unruly Advocate Whodunnit? SPECIAL REPORT
|
Note to Dana Hull, Murky News |
KIKO AWARD
|
The Sleeping Giant Awakes: The Return of the Unruly Advocate |
Did You Know? |