Thursday's Comments
I watched much of last evening's board meeting and wondered if anyone else noticed that the board did not vote to pay the bills of the district but put that off until they had an accounting of the bills of the last several months. Any ideas what that is about? I have always said and still say there is more to this Sonia thing than meets the eye. As to getting an Interim Super, the board should eat a bit of "crow" and ask Joann to come back and oversee things. She was a great stabilizing force after the departure of Louis, held things together without fanfare and already knows the ins and outs of the district. My only concern about anyone taking over the district for a year or so, is that some of the very people who helped Joann hold things together are now casulties of Sonia's reign. It makes even more sense to bring Joann back and allow her to hold the district together. She's done it before, surely she can do it again. I feel she is emminently more qualified than Liz Marrufo as Liz doesn't have Central Office experience. No offense to Liz, its just the facts. Anyone else have a different idea?
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You know, I'm reading these posts and I have to be grateful that we live in a country where we can express our opinions. It doesn't matter what your opinion is; what matters is that you are FREE to express that opinion. No one has to agree with you, no one has to disagree with you. I am an employee with LCPS and I love my job. I have a great principal and wonderful teachers to work side by side with. There are MANY wonderful and awesome teachers, and yes, principals in this district. Now that the school board has dismissed Sonia (I refuse to acknowledge her as "Dr."), we need to continue to focus on our children and do what is best for THEM. It's not about us, it's about our KIDS. Regardless of the environment teachers are in, regardless of all that teachers have to deal with, regardless of policies and procedures, we MUST focus on our KIDS. I don't know what is in our future for LCPS, but I do know that we have some pretty wonderful people within our school system and we need to recognize and utilize their talents.
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O.K. the joke is over. Lets pull Marvin Allen out of retirement and Barry Peace out of the elementary schools so they can help stablize the gang/drug problems in our Middle and High Schools.
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Poor us. We, the Board, are victims of just plain bad luck. We make good choices but bad things mysteriously happen to us. Bad people out in the community constantly dog us. Why won't all you bad people just leave us alone? Afterall, all the hundreds of allegations about Diaz are news to us! We never heard of anything happening until you brought it up! If we don't hear it, it doesn't happen. And that blog--we know it's just two or three disgruntled people. Everything would be fine if everyone would just shut up and let us make our little decisions based on our personal agendas, because, afterall, we do know best! If all you pesky teachers and principals and parents would just go away and let us do our job of micromanaging the district, just think how good things could be! Don't you worry, we will make yet another great choice as superintendent if you will just give us another chance.
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Ogas, it doesn't matter what fund that money comes from. That is still money that could be used for issues, and needs for kids. Can you say, line item transfer? You are taking money from schools that is there to educate the kids you profess to care about! Even if the money is there for emergencies, or mess ups, what is to say we won't need it for when a child is accidentally hurt? Ogas should be ashamed! He knows exactly what I am talking about --
It seems to me that part of the problem is that superintendents aren't held to the same standards as teachers. A new teacher can be fired any time during their first year, so why should Sonia be any different?
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Did anyone REALLY expect Dr Diaz to go quietly? Each delay continues her salary. Then, we will probably buy her off. I guess that is one way to get your new house paid for. WHEN is it going to be what is best for the students and better delivery of instruction? --
Bonnie Votaw is a great educational leader. She knows what teaching is all about and will be there for the students. Please help her get elected to the Board of Education and help put Las Cruces on the tract to becomming a great district to work in again. I worked with her and saw her give excellent advice to many teachers, parents and students. Also, Liz will do just fine. Please get back into your classrooms and let the children benefit from your direction.
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I have done my homework, and I stand by my information; PLTs are funded through Title I monies
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Letter from a Las Cruces resident and NMSU student:I am writing this letter concerning the unfair treatment of Dr. Sonia Diaz, by the Las Cruces School Board and those that are leading a smear campaign against the newly appointed Superintendent. Dr. Diaz has committed no infraction to cause her dismissal from her job as Superintendent of the Las Cruces District. Dr. Diaz has record of achievement that cannot be denied by the anonymous letter written by a scurrilous Blog, where the writers do not have the guts to place their names on the record. The main reason for the unfair treatment of Dr. Diaz, is the result of some people in the district, are unwilling to give change a chance. They only want the status quo and the end result has been, that many young people are failing to achieve. The impressive record of Dr. Diaz did not melt in the desert heat of Las Cruces. This unfair treatment of Dr. Diaz may be a symptom of the liberal agenda that hates accountability and responsible governance. What ever the root cause, the fact is, Dr. Diaz must not allow herself and her reputation to be ruined by a few people, who are bent on her dismissal. If you feel that you are in the right, let the public see your names and not hide behind, anonymous. Paul J. Jaramillo
posted by LCPS1 @ 6:15 AM
6 Comments:
Oh, my bonnie-Lonnie...those are my well-earned sick days that you are alluding to, and I will use them as I see fit. Having my babies put me into the "sick-days hole", but I have worked diligently since then to accumulate days that I can use whether I am physically sick or emotionally drained. So, back away from the sick days issue! Yes, even if that means I may need to visit my doctor who is located in the mall or in some remote, wooded area in the fall...those sick days are MINE---not yours!
Paul J. Jaramillo writes of a "record of achievement that cannot be denied by the anonymous letter written by a scurrilous Blog". I am curious, what record he is referring to? Diaz's past work record would suggest a lack of achievement. Could Paul be more specific as to the work record of Dr. Diaz. I am sure we would all like to have the facts so we may render accurate judgment.
excuse me but WHAT record of achievement?
Haven't you read what she did to other communities?
You should be in the office to see what
has taken place. Lets wait and see what the bill
are. As for Mr. Ogas I don't
even know him but I think what
all these administrators (principals etc.) have
gone through this is the only way, because
money talks. I hope the sue every board member
individually.
I will remain anonymous in order to say my job.
I agree. Lets get the two gang busters back into our schools where they are needed. One may not come, but the other is still with LCPS. They are deeply missed.
Message to NMSU Student Paul Jaramillo: It's clear that you are a REALLY uniformed idealist on this topic and I REALLY should have patience with you, but when you start throwing the Rush Limbaugh definition of "liberals" around to blame the victims of Diaz for her bad behavior, well, it REALLY pisses me off.
I am a parent of four kids: one who graduated thanks to the dedication of his teachers and AES facilitators with the "crazy liberal" idea that when a bright kid performs below his abilities it's important to never give up on him. He's now a science major at NMSU, one of the very few of his peers who can claim the same, even though they started off in college with much higher high school GPA's. I especially give praise to one really liberal high school Creative Writing teacher, Phyllis Wright, for helping him find the light inside that still carries him to class every day.
I stll have three others in the elementary, middle and high schools who are on a daily basis exposed to some of the finest and most dedicated "liberals"--teachers who may have never made enough to pay their own bills on time but who purchase the educational materials for their classrooms, come to work everyday, focused and cheerful and dedicated to being leaders for the children in their classes. They're easy to identify: they are usually dragging a wagon full of kid's papers and activities to their cars, which are in the lot way past 5pm. These bleeding heart-liberals will still stop to give their former students a big hug and carry on a conversation with you, regardless of the time because they have dedicated their lives to the "liberal" idea of education.
Maybe my kids are lucky, but I could count on one hand the number of teachers and administrators who I have known over the years who were "bad" or "lazy" or "unaccountable"--yes they existed but they were far and few between and often didn't seem to hang around very long. And I guarantee you they were not the ones with a "liberal agenda that hates accountability and responsible governance". Quite the contrary: good teachers and administrators THRIVE under fair, inspiring and accountable leadership.
While you still have the chance at NMSU, take two more classes: one in Educational History and one in Classical Political Philosophy before you decide that "liberalism" is behind Ms. Diaz's necessary departure. Oh yeah, add an effective leadership class to those two. The entire idea that we can educate people from every ethnic group, race, religion, gender and economic class is part of the same Classic Liberalism that was the underlying principle in the Enlightenment, the concept of Democracy, the Constitution, the civil rights movement..I could go on and on.
Paul, your rosy view of Diaz is squarely in contrast to the experiences many, many good people had under her tenure. INFORM YOURSELF. Highly educated as she is, Diaz didn't know how to lead people without using all the worst management and communication techniques known to mankind in the 21st century. It was SHE who ruined her reputation--everyone else was openminded, happy to "give her a chance" from her first day, but SHE chose her strategies and SHE created her legacy. Unlike the teachers I described above, her motives were about her needs, not anyone elses. I don't care how good a person's ends are, they don't justify the means of being a power hungry, disdainful and dishonest person--and since this woman has a DOCUMENTED track record of doing the same thing over and over in her past work, and since she is getting up there in years, it's obvious that these are here natural tendencies and time and patience by her victims won't change a thing.
Wake up, Paul. Simple common courtesy eluded her --my God, she couldn't go to a restaurant or get her hair done without leaving a path of destruction in her wake!!
She is no "desert flower", Dude, she's more of a "desert scorpion".
LMG
I can't believe we should have to buy out Diaz to get her to leave. There has to be some criminal wrongdoing somewhere for us to have been forced into the Houghton Mifflin reading series in the middle of the year. Can we not prove that there was "money under the table" and into her pocket somewhere? Are there no regulations on her expenses that she violated by staying in honeymoon suites, etc.??? Buy her out? ha! Seems to me she should run before we press criminal charges against her for taking taxpayer money!
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