Todd's Email to Board of Education

Dear LCPS Underground,

This is a copy of an e-mail I sent today to all the members
of the School Board. Despite what Dr. Diaz said to the
state legislators and the Board members this morning,
this is NOT about a bunch of lazy school district employees
who don't want to work harder; and it's NOT about people
who resent an "outsider" coming in to run the district.

This IS about treating people fairly, courteously, and with
respect. It IS about telling the truth. It IS about making
the best decisions possible, and then being willing to
discuss, explain and defend those decisions in public.

It's time for parents and community members to speak up,
speak out, and let the School Board and our state legislators
know how we feel about what's going on. These are our
schools, for our kids, and we need leaders who will do
what's right and best for them.

Norman Todd
Dear Board members,

I read in yesterday's newspaper that the Board scheduled
a closed session to review the job performance of
Superintendent Sonia Diaz. In my opinion, this review
is definitely needed and should be thoroughly and
quickly conducted.

I am very disappointed and upset by the Superintendent's
actions since she came to our school district. Based on
what I have been told, I do not support the Superintendent
and her activities. Some of my concerns are:

1) The situation at Zia Middle School -- The Superintendent
has allowed Zia Middle School to hang, in limbo, for weeks
and weeks, without a definite decision about who will be
the principal and without consistent administrative support
from assistant principals or other administrators. This has
demoralized the teachers, staff and parents; has interfered
with instruction; and has reached the point that it affects
student safety and security because students, seeing no
consistent discipline or administration, are forming gangs,
fighting, and behaving horribly at the school. I have about
a dozen e-mails from Zia parents, expressing the same
concerns about the situation there. I have talked to the
Superintendent about the situation; she told me that she
has no confidence in Dante Thacker, that she has selected
someone from Deming who will be hired to replace
Mrs. Thacker at Zia; but that she needs time to create the
legal grounds for firing or replacing Mrs. Thacker. In the
meantime, what about the 870 students and 100 teachers
and staff at Zia Middle School?

2) The K-5 literacy program -- Last week the LCHS SAC
was told that there are no textbooks for the high school
biology classes, including the Honors/AP biology classes.
The textbooks were ordered but never paid for -- because,
I was told, the Superintendent froze all schools' textbook
allocations to pay for the Houghton-Mifflin literacy program
for elementary schools. If this is true, how can it be justified?
High school students are trying to complete their courses,
prepare for college, get ready for the AP exams -- and they
have no textbooks? Who decided to sacrifice the education
of high school students in order to provide the literacy
program for elementary schools?

3) Discretionary spending -- I have been told that the
school district spent $50,000 to bring five of the
Superintendent's colleagues to Las Cruces to serve as
a transition team when she began working here. I have
also been told that the school district spent $20,000,
plus expenses, to have two of the Superintendent's
colleagues come to Las Cruces to present a two-day
professional development session for principals. I hear
from schools in our district constantly, asking me to help
them raise money for legitimate needs -- such as after-school
tutoring programs at Camino Real, playground equipment
at Hermosa Heights, technology equipment and bilingual
textbooks at Mesilla. I spend dozens of hours every year
helping schools with pancake breakfasts and other
fundraising to help them meet their needs. I resent the
fact that the district is willing to pay $70,000 for these
non-critical expenses when our own children and schools
are told "we have no money."

4) Treatment of school district employees -- Beginning the
first week she was here, the Superintendent has repeatedly
behaved in an extremely inappropriate manner with LCPS
employees. I know of five different employees who were
subjected to screaming, yelling, hostile and very unpleasant
tirades from the Superintendent. Two of those employees
left in tears and went home. Two of those employees have
quit their jobs. Louis Martinez was put on a growth plan
because of his "arrogant" attitude and demeanor. How can
Superintendent Diaz be allowed to behave in this way?

5) September 13 lockdown -- On September 13 there was
a severe weather alert and there were warnings of tornados
in the Las Cruces area. The Superintendent was at a
meeting at NMSU when the severe weather alerts were
first issued. In her absence, Jo Galvan and Karen Robles
were alone in the Superintendent's office and were
responsible for making the decision to place all the schools
in "lockdown" or "freeze" until the weather situation was
resolved. The Superintendent was called and told about the
weather alerts and the lockdown situation. She returned to
the LCPS central office but rather than go in, she drove
her car home to put it in the garage so it wouldn't be dented
or dinged by hail. She returned to the central office at
approximately 4:00 PM, when the weather situation was
over and the lockdown was no longer in effect. This to me
is totally incomprehensible and inexcusable -- she was
more concerned about her Mercedes than about the safety
and welfare of 23,000 students in the Las Cruces Public Schools.
Can you please explain and justify this behavior to me?

These are my main concerns, though I have others. I also
have a tremendous concern about you, the members of the
School Board. I sense enormous hostility from the Board
toward the employees, particularly the administrators, in our
school district. I have been told that Sonia Diaz was chosen
in large part because a group of principals researched her
background and expressed serious misgivings and concerns
to members of the School Board -- and the Board, perversely,
decided that if the principals didn't like Sonia Diaz, then that
was reason enough to hire her. Is that true? Was Sonia Diaz
hired with the express mission from the Board to fire and
get rid of as many administrators and existing LCPS employees
as possible? No wonder our school district doesn't work, with
this dysfunction at its center.

I was asked to give my time to give input to the search firm
that was recruiting candidates for Superintendent. The
criteria for a Superintendent that were developed from those
sessions included someone who was conciliatory, who would
build consensus and coalitions, who would develop a close
working relationship with principals, teachers and parents,
who would build coalitions in the community. None of that
has happened with this Superintendent. She has engaged
in a very nasty, public spat with Mayor Mattiace because
she inexplicably believed he reneged on a "promise" to
give the school district $2 million to pay for literacy programs.
I can't point to anything she has done to improve student
learning throughout the district, to build better professional
relationships, or to develop coalitions and consensus. Every
LCPS employee I know is anxious, uncertain, afraid for their
job and worried about their work situation. Lots of them are
talking about retiring, moving away, leaving the education field.
When all of them have left, who will replace them? And if
LCPS allows a deep reservoir of ill-will and distrust to develop
in our community, how will we pass future bond issues, build
business partnerships, recruit volunteers for our schools?
And with all due respect -- if the School Board was simply looking
to hire a Superintendent who shares your low opinion of the
district and its employees, and who was willing to come in
and fire people, why did you waste my time with focus groups
and candidate interviews?

I am someone who believes in our schools and who has
spent many, many hours and lots and lots of money to help
build up those schools. I am very unhappy with the current
situation in our school district. I hope you will investigate
and respond to my concerns.


Norman Todd