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TUSD Board President Mark Stegeman’s open letter to the public

by on Apr. 28, 2011, under Life, Politics

Email from TUSD Board President Dr. Mark Stegeman:

April 28, 2011

Open letter to the public, concerning the April 26 meeting of the Tucson Unified School District:

As is well known, the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board postponed its April 26 meeting after a crowd of students and allied persons filled the Board room shortly before the meeting was scheduled to start.

The frequent exercise of free speech, especially dissenting opinions, is one indicator of a healthy democratic society. At the same time, the district has a basic responsibility to conduct its meetings in an orderly manner and to provide a safe environment for persons who wish to attend.

Many members of the public were scheduled to speak to the Board on April 26; other members of the public were scheduled to make a major presentation; and many members of our community and the district’s staff had a stake in various items on the agenda. By failing to ensure an orderly environment and timely consideration of those items, the district failed in its obligations to all of those persons. The Board is ultimately accountable for that failure. On behalf of the Board, I apologize to the community.

In recent months TUSD has improved security at its meetings in response to increased public attendance, demonstrations, and some episodes of disorderly conduct. We knew that the ethnic studies item on the agenda raised the risk of problems, and TUSD’s security personnel revised some procedures accordingly. They did not anticipate the rapid and well-coordinated seizure of the dais (where the Board normally sits) by numerous students, who had brought hidden chains and locks into the Board room.

After the students controlled the dais and the room flooded with people, our primary concern was to avoid injuries. We decided that postponing the Board meeting and allowing the protest to wind down at its own speed was the safest option. TPD officers were available, nearby but outside the building, in case the situation deteriorated. Fortunately this did not happen and no injuries occurred. Staff is carefully reviewing our security staffing and procedures, to avoid repetition of this or any similar incident.

We also considered moving the April 26 meeting to another room in the building. This would have presented logistical problems, because of the number of presentations scheduled, the number of persons who were supposed to speak to the Board, and the difficulty of taping the meeting. By statute the meeting would still be open to the public, but any alternative room would have been much smaller, and the prospect of hundreds of persons trying to reach that room presented new risks of injuries.

The right of free speech and the right to political protest are fundamental and respected by the Board. In recent months, I have often extended the length of the audience call, to allow more people to speak at TUSD’s public meetings. The April 26 agenda included a special audience call, to allow members of the public to speak on the specific topic of ethnic studies. This special audience call will remain on the agenda of the rescheduled meeting.

Other essential pillars of a democratic society include the right of citizens to choose public officials in free elections and the capacity of those elected officials to conduct the public’s business in open meetings.

I appreciate the sincere passion that many students feel for the Mexican-American Studies (MAS) courses and know the frustration that something which one treasures could change. What occurred on Tuesday, however, went well beyond the exercise of free and passionate speech: the students shut down an elected body by force.

One of the MAS teachers was quoted in the press: “They’re [the students are] brilliant. This is not a one-time event. It looks like they’re not going to stop until they have an impact on this decision.” In this environment, ordinary prudence requires the Board to prepare for a continuing campaign of physical disruption, which aims to block measures (or even the debating of measures) which the students find undesirable.

Just as the Board is committed to free speech, so is it committed to protecting its ability to deliberate and make decisions in public meetings, in which all members of the public feel safe and respected.

Mark Stegeman
President of the Governing Board, Tucson Unified School District

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  • Mike Nervik

    I am especially pleased that these students so eloquently expressed the need for “civility” as wished upon us by our esteemed Sherrif Dupnik.

  • Earle K. Wheatley

    Dear Mr. Stegeman,

    Your open letter is not strong enough.  If the shoe were on the other foot and these were the supporters of the recommendation to close down ethnic studies or at least remove it from the core cirriculum who blocked admitance to or pre-empted the meeting, the police presence and a total outrage in the comminity and the media would be screaming racism and calling for prosecution.  It’s has happened before.

    This kind of out of control “riotous” behavior is not DEMOCRATIC.” It’s chaos.  It is getting worse and if it isn’t corralled there will be damage or injury in the future.

    There is a right way to peacefully protest and there is a wrong way.  This was clearly the wrong way.
    These kids were encouraged and possibly even organized by some of your employees and even your board members.  This is also unacceptable in a free society.   Where is the “civility” everyone is clamering for?

    I am a business owner ond pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes in Tucson every year and in the past twenty years have had many of TUSD ”graduates” apply for jobs who cannot read a tape measure, can’t do simple fractions or can’t even half fill out a job application.  I’m sure glad that we are spending our resources on ethnic studies.

    Watching students being so misled and out of control made me sad and angry because they could be being taught constructive, positive, empowering lessons.
    You need to take a stronger stand, fairer to everyone, and not be bullied by an unruly, loud, mob.

    Earle K. Wheatley

    • Eileen

      Mr. Wheatley – I completely agree with your point of view.  Very well said.  Thank you.

    • Mark Stegeman

      Thanks for input, Mr. Wheatley.  I agree about the problems with math skills, because I see it every semester in my freshman/sophomore class at UA. 

      I agree absolutely that the Board should not be bullied.  The divisions within the Board on this issue make things harder than they would otherwise be, but that is not intended as an excuse.  The situation is still playing out and we shall see where it goes.  I am doing my best. 

    • leftfield

       ”…many of TUSD ”graduates” apply for jobs who cannot read a tape measure, can’t do simple fractions or can’t even half fill out a job application.  I’m sure glad that we are spending our resources on ethnic studies.”

      I’ve also been a business owner and employer who has dealt with these issues, though I’ve never associated them with a particular school.  Nonetheless, I don’t understand the logic behind the implication that Ethnic Studies programs are somehow responsible for poor math skills. 

      As a business owner, I also have paid “tens of thousands” in taxes, but I’m not sure why that buttresses any argument either.  So what if you pay your taxes?  Do you believe that makes your soapbox a little higher than the next guy’s?

      I would also like to take issue with your contention (one that is currently popular with the right wing) that the students are “misled”.  I’m sure the students themselves would find this demeaning and I find it without basis. 

      As to your contention that this is “mob rule”, my POV is that the MAS students of TUSD are being subjected to another kind of mob rule.  The particular mob they are facing wears nice clothes and meets in fancy buildings; they have all the trappings of ‘civility’ and ‘proper authority’, but they are an ugly mob just the same; not unlike the mobs of old who felt compelled to resort to violence when they wished to reconfirm their position in the pecking order of society. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/pages/Three-Sonorans/144198198931412 Three Sonorans

    And what Mark Stegeman is doing with MAS is well beyond what he was elected to do… and actually a violation of a federal court order!

    • Fraser007

      I bet you guided those students? I wonder if you were there telling them what to do? Of course I could be wrong. Having them do your dirty work.

      • Fraser007

        How come we never see your pretty face on the news? This topic means a lot to you I just never see you interviewed on KGUN or KVOA when those deomonstrations are going on.

        • Fraser007

          demonstrations….typo/its late.

  • Eileen

    I was appalled at what took place, and what you and your guests had to endure, at your Board meeting on Tuesday night.  Every adult who is an overseer of that program and who organized and incited that hate filled protest, should be fired immediately.  It is completely irresponsible what they are teaching these students and in the ways they are encouraging them to go about getting what they want.  These kids are being used as pawns and it is shameful!
    In this day and age where bullying is out of control in our schools, here we see it on the reverse end.  These people are nothing but big bullies and stormed that meeting with a gang mentality.  What an awful example for impressionable students.
    My daughter’s best friend, who is Hispanic, had to take this course in “Ethnic” Studies in order to receive a grant that she had applied for.  She said it was one of the worst things she had experienced and that she would leave, literally shaking, after each class.  She said that rather than teaching pride and knowledge about her history it was divisive and preached hate and retribution against the White man.  She was so glad when the class was over.
    So, I pray that Dr. Pedicone and all the board members will not succumb to or be intimidated by these bully tactics.  Giving in at this point only demonstrates to “everyone” that these hate filled acts are the way to go about getting absolutely anything that you want.  Take a stand for education!  I hope that you can take a stand and not tolerate, essentially being held hostage.
    Although I appreciate the board president’s open letter, it was not near strong enough.  I can’t even imagine the words you would have had if it were protesters on the other side, of being FOR the ban of the program.  The race card would have definitely been pulled out and the protesters deemed horrible and despicable for such actions.  For once, take a stand…Please!

  • Vato Loco

    Mr. Wheatley…  welcome to America and a country in which students are actively engaged in our democratic process trying to prevail over the fascist, despotic powers of Dr. Pedicone and his side kick, Mr. Stegemen. From what i witnessed, it is evident that you and Mr. Stegemen are the one’s who do not understand how our government functions and it is indeed the students who gave you all a civics lesson! I pay taxes as well and I am disgusted with the likes of our undemocratic TUSD Board President and Dr. Pedicones disregard for what our TUSD community wants! I am a TUSD parent and I am proud of the actions of those brave students who challenged the dictatorial powers of those despots… Bravo!!! Just a thought… Mr. Wheatley, would consider moving back to wherever you came from… quite frankly maybe you could take with you Mr. Stegeman and drop him off in California as well as our governor… You “snowbirds” are killing our democracy here in Tucson! Regarding your comment that these students were organized by TUSD staff or possibly TUSD Board members speaks to you bigotry and your subtractive high school degree/GED education… I heard the students interview by various news journalist and some of those questions were blatantly biased and leading; however, the students comments were all mature, direct, and on point; well articulated! Sadly, I can not say the same about last years TEA party rallies participants (not to mention their misspelled signs)… You insult the students intelligence by making those ignorant, bigoted assumptions… Paz y refleciones…

  • Matthew Laos

    Carolyn:  Thank you for posting the Open Letter.

    What strikes me as most ironic since first hearing the news about the demonstration of the MAS program was the date chosen for the next meeting, May 5th, which simply translated means Cinco de Mayo.

    It is almost Freudian that the Board or it’s members just picked a date that has such significance to the issue at hand, Mexican American Studies.  If they chose the date for symbolic reasons, which I doubt, it might suggest their support for the MAS program.  If they simply picked a date out of hand, it might suggest their complete lack of understanding of anything Mexican or American, MAS  or otherwise and they should all recuse themselves for just plain ignorance of both. 

    Cinco de Mayo became a day of celebrating Mexican heritage on the US beginning in California.  It has become a great marketing day for celebration for many American businesses.  Historically, it is simply the day the Mexican Army won a battle against French forces.  Cinco de Mayo has cultural and historical value which is what education should be about.  May 5th is just another day, but Cinco de Mayo has meaning.

    Chances are the Board or it’s leadership  just wasn’t thinking and picked a date out of sheer panic to make a decision. 

    The fact that Mr. Stegeman never even addressed the curiosity of the date of the next board meeting suggests that he doesn’t particularly care or doesn’t understand the irony presented by this date itself.

    Thanks for posting the letter again, if not to demonstrate the invisible elephant in the room, which is that ignorance is winning over knowledge.
    Best,
    Matthew Laos

  • Earle K. Wheatley

    It never ceases to amaze me that some people immediately start yelling “racist”  and resort to personal attacks when their arguments are thin or are purely emotional and not logically or factually based. It is especially telling when the accuser doesn’t know the writer.
    I might be black, my mother might have been black, or Hispanic, or Chinese for that matter.  Would it matter if I  was born here sixty years ago in the bedroom of a plant nursery when Grant and Country Club were dirt roads?

    “Snowbirds?” The meaning of   that word is someone who annually comes in the winter and goes north for the summer, not for someone who has raised a family, built businesses, contributed greatly to charities, and employed a few hundred Tuconans over the years, based on their ability to be trained or skills to perform dignified, meaningful work.

    In our Representative Democracy, America, wherein I was born, and where I have an amazing “grateful to be an American”, Naturalized wife, we vote for the changes and we live by the outcomes of those votes and by the rule of law, not by mob rule.
    Persuant to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo(circa 1848) and subsequently the Gadsden Purchase which was ratified by Mexico in 1854, Tucson is part of the United States.Therefore, whether I was born in Lovely Tucson or not I have the right to live here or anywhere else in the United States I choose.  All citizens have the same right.

    I have not a bigoted bone in my body but I must admit to my prejudices.  I have two very strong biases through which I view everything….I abhor ignorance and stupidity.  It matters not what a person looks like to me but what they say and even more by how they act determines how I respond to them.

    Peace Tucson

  • Vato Loco

    Good morning Mr. Wheatley… Thank you for your reflections… Nevertheless, your ” Naturalized wife, I-am-married-to-a-Mexican” comment is telling… Please look in the mirror and be honest with your heart… Your amazed at being called a racist; furthermore, you may be “black” or your mother Hispanic, therefore your bigoted comments should automatically be condoned… what does matter, Mr. Wheatley…  are your bigoted statement… You see racism is not about who you are married to or where your ancestry originates from… Racism is about POWER (What TUSD Pedicone and Stegemen are abusing) and ignorance!!! You speak of our beautiful TUSD children with “broad strokes” demeaning their intelligence and characterizing their activism as “chaotic”… mob like… even hint to the possibility of their actions possibly leading to violence… That my dear friend is bigotry! Finally, you say you were born here and you raised a family… I am a TUSD parent and my son is being educated by MAS curricula and its loving indigenous pedagogy… If you are not going to help the Thousands of TUSD parents who are proud of our TUSD children (and MAS department) their wiliness to fight for these beautiful classes ( Xican@s have a history of civic engagement in attaining our Human, civic rights and trying to save the souls of folks such as yourself) and are the handful of “haters” who are aligning themselves with the “good-ol-boys” of facsist Pedicone and Stegemen… please stay out of our way as this is very tiring… gracias y paz y refleciones…

  • Laura Arizona

    I am appalled at the actions of these children and the adult Board Members who clapped, stood on tables and egged the kids on.  This is America and American history needs to be completed as a result of getting a diploma in America.  If kids want to know about other countries history, mexico, asia, china, japan, africa, etc…then offer those history classes as an elective class.  La Raza teaches, racial hatred, lies, etc.  Now, the group called Sound Strike in LA, is sending these mis-guided children, money to buy their little chains and locks.  This should not be allowed in our schools.  The kids and board members need to be disciplined…and your next Board Meeting should be schedualed on a day NOT associated with Cinco De Mayo..lets not keep the insanity pumped up.

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