Nick Jimenez

Sunday, April 2, 2000

Cleaning up after the good, bad and ugly

If District Judge Emil Karl Prohl is a movie fan, he might want to pop some old Clint Eastwood videotapes into the VCR.
   The Kerrville judge who came to preside over the court of inquiry into the Corpus Christi Independent School District might see some similarities between the spaghetti western heroes Eastwood used to portray and the role he played in Corpus Christi. That is to say, the stranger who comes to town as a kind of avenging spirit, a pale rider who comes to judge the good, the bad and the ugly. Then he rides away, leaving the townsfolk to pick up the pieces and wonder - "Who was that man they called Preacher?"
   (Yes, I've been spending way too much time in front of the tube.)
   And picking up the pieces is where we are right now. The judge recommended that cases against Supt. Abe Saavedra and former assistant school superintendent Thomas W. Marlin be taken to the grand jury. This part of the job of clearing up the wreckage in the town streets is in the hands of the courts.
   But that's only part of the job of straightening out the mess. The part in the hands of the townsfolk (that's us) is the May 6 school-board election.
   This school-board election is not just like any other school-board election. Certainly the turnout of voters should in no way resemble the anemic performances of recent school board elections. In 1994, turnout was five percent and in 1996, a whopping 6 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. In other words, almost as many people turned out last week to see the IceRays do in the El Paso Buzzards as voted in any one of these elections.
   There is a school of thought that says low turnouts can be interpreted as indicating contentment with the status quo. On that basis, voters ought to be beating down the doors of the voting precincts on May 6.
   Nor should it be business as usual for the candidates. Already the number of candidates on the ballot indicates high interest; 16 citizens have filed to challenge the incumbents for four seats on the board. For many of the challengers, this is their first run at elective office.
   School-board candidates, for the most part, offer themselves up on the basis of their deep interest in education. And they'd better have an interest in education because being a school trustee is hardly a stepping stone for higher office and a wonderful place to catch a lot of flak from unhappy parents, upset teachers and any other constituent who feels they didn't a fair shake.
   But in cleaning up the mess at CCISD, I would offer that it's not education that needs straightening out. When it comes to education, CCISD is doing great. The district's lineup of highly rated schools is the envy of Texas public education. Its teaching ranks include the state's top teacher and a finalist for top teacher. Scores are up and violence is down.
   No, the problem is the "who's on first" (too many movies, again) scheme of policies and organization that runs the show. The testimony at the court of inquiry, as did an earlier audit by the Texas Education Agency, pretty well demonstrated that when it comes to policies on who gets to go on trips, how they are paid for, how contracts are written, how lines of communication are laid down and simple accountability, this is a gang that can't shoot straight.
   CCISD is loaded with doctorates in education, but it screams for a cold-eyed corporate gunslinger, the kind that treats missing receipts like a challenge to slap leather, pilgrim.
   Let me offer this one bit of advice for the candidates. Those who emerge victorious should at their first meeting set up a task force of the best business minds in the community. Draw as well on the good will and expertise of the college of business at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi. Get people who know what it is to run a large organization with clear lines of communication and authority, with systems that demand accountability.
   Let no one ever say again, there was no policy against it. Al Gore tried this - "no controlling legal authority" - and it doesn't seem to have worked for him either.
   (Nick Jimenez can be reached by phone at 886-3787 or by e-mail at jimenezn@caller.com.)
  
  

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