Dr. Earl Nissen's Viewpoint
Transition Time for the Las Cruces Public Schools
Our community has experienced the transitioning of two new superintendents in the past three years. The first one didn’t work out so well. Many of us in the community served on the interviewing committees that brought both superintendents to the district. After our first badly broken experience we saw the Board of Education placing faith in a $45,000 consultant to give us well-checked candidates for interviewing. This resulted in four candidates going before our committees. Prior to the interviews we asked the consultant that if we hired one of the four would there be anything come up at a later date that wasn’t made known at the time of the interviews. She said all had been well screened, and the information we had was what was needed for the interviews. During the interviews we stressed that the district needed healing after a five-year history of chaos at the Board and Administrative levels.
Granted, when a new superintendent comes into a district there will be changes that not everyone will like, and a Board and community must work together on absorbing these changes. If the changes can be justified that they are being made to increase the quality of education for our children, the community will be reasonable in accepting them and will move on to greater heights.
The present transition that we are experiencing appears to be in some difficulty, because there are many questions among parents and staff members about recent happenings in the school district. Employees seem to have a sense of fear due to the way changes are being made. This has caused an examination of the past experiences of the chief school administrator, and by googling one discovers that there are documented press releases of contracts not being renewed and a buyout being made. These are incidents that were not made known by the $45,000 consultant or the candidate at the time of the interviewing which would probably have altered our questioning of the candidate. So by putting together these non-disclosures and recent happenings, I feel deceived by the process used in starting this transition after participating with other community members in attempting to bring new life to our district and to heal the past. I call upon the Board of Education to meet its responsibilities by taking a hard look at this present transition time in our school district in order to stop an apparent derailing of any healing of the district.
Dr. Earl Nissen
I would add that it is good to see Dr. Diemer back on the job, and we wish her well in her recovery.
posted by LCPS1 @ 6:34 AM
6 Comments:
Dr. Nissan
the board was aware of the buy out and all the other googled information. Ask them.
As a former long time employee of LCPS, it pains me to see what has taken place these past four years. I left before the current board, who have correctly been characterized as "ignorant and arrogant" could destroy the district. Certainly, blame can be placed at the doors of Luis Martinez and Sonia Diaz, and rightfully so. However, this board cannot perform with competence their primary duty, which is to hire a capable superintendent. They also micromanage, insert themselves into areas that are not within their role, and put their own petty personal agendas above the needs of staff and students. And, it is not just one or two members -- they all do it.
There was a time when the people of Las Cruces insisted upon proper leadership from the board and superintendent. Community civic leaders actively participated in the selection and backing of the educators and the baord. Apparantly, no longer. How sad, because what used to be the flagship school district in New Mexico is now in a shambles. Where are the new Patsy Durans, Mark Medoffs, Roy Rodriguezes who will step up, recall the board, and insist upon excellence for our schools? When that happens, I and others will seek to return to LCPS. For now, not for anything. And that too is sad.
Citizens of Las Cruces, what are you waiting for?!!!
I want to thank whomever for setting up this blog site. People needed an avenue for expressing thier views, since school email is closely monitored and censored and since the newspaper is highly selective as to what slant on an issue is published. Additionally, it is obvious that these letters and comments are tendered by more than "two or three disgruntled writers wallowing in anonymity."
My biggest concern over this whole Diazgate mess is that all the energy and attention of the LCPS is once again directed toward adult personalities and politics. The focus must be children. Every decision made in this district must answer the question "Is this good for kids?" I would hazard a guess that the great preponderance of decisions made by Martinez and Diaz did not answer this question affirmatively. Teachers desperately want to apply their professional abilities to the children in their classroom. Why can't the powers in charge of national, state, anc local educational agencies understand this and support them so that they can do the job they were hired to do? Our kids must be the focus of our time and energy.
As a former LCPS employee I am grateful for the articulate comments of Mr. Todd and Dr. Nissen. I would be pleased to work with them on a recall of our School Board members. They are, afterall, responsible for the Superintendent fiasco. Let's remember it took them TWO years to hire Louis Martinez while they rushed to hire Sonia Diaz.
Earl Nissen is a hypocrite! He will strike out at anyone who does not agree with his demagoguery.
Earl;
You still are a pharisee! Anyone who disagrees with you is derailed. Your arguments are based on your singular opinion and nothing else. I am sorry that you could not perform in another district as an administrator - if you had, maybe we would still be moving forward with children on our agenda, rather than trying (AGAIN) to find someone who will be your puppet.
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