John Pedicone is in a tough situation once again thanks to bigotry in TUSD.

Either the bigotry is coming from a student club that he allows to exist, or it is coming from his assistant superintendent Dr. Garcia, a person just rewarded for bad behavior with a 3% raise last week.

Last Tuesday, August 23rd we learned in official court testimony during the HB2281-Huppenthal case that Dr. Garcia thinks that the MEChA student club at Tucson High School is both “anti-semitic” and “un-American.”

This was revealed to Dr. Pedicone shortly after he became TUSD superintendent, and after knowing what Dr. Garcia thought of the Mexican-American student organization that is found nationwide, and after being warned by other Latino elected leaders such as Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias that Dr. Garcia thinks the MAS program should be dismantled, Dr. Pedicone still decided to put this known hater in charge of supervising the MAS program.

In the short time since this restructuring took place, the MAS director was reprimanded and this internal personnel issue was even the topic of an Arizona Daily Star editorial, and no comment or input from the MAS director was even sought for their story/editorial, and the enrollment in MAS has dropped in half due to a new ban on teachers being able to inform students about the MAS option that is available to satisfy American History and Literature requirements, and with counselors telling students to avoid MAS classes since they might be banned in the fall.

Pedicone’s decision of putting a known hater of MAS in charge of supervising MAS is as wise George W. Bush’s decision to appoint John Bolton, a known hater of the United Nations, to be the US ambassador to the UN.

But now John Pedicone must make a decision, and even deciding to do nothing is itself a decision that has ramifications.

Click on flowchart for larger image.

In a nutshell it is very simple. Either MEChA is or is not an “anti-semitic” and “un-American” program as Dr. Garcia claims.

If it is, then it should be banned immediately.

If it is not, then Dr. Garcia should be reprimanded, especially for someone in TUSD with so much power, to be smearing Latino students in such as vile way by increasing the level of hate against them, especially in today’s atmosphere of Arizona xenophobia and racism. Dr. Garcia should also not be the person in charge of supervising the Mexican American Studies program, unless Pedicone is really trying to dismantle the program from within.

Whatever Pedicone decides to do, act or not act, it is all a decision and in this case inaction is also an action.

For Pedicone to do nothing means that MEChA continues, which implies he does not agree with Dr. Garcia, and it also means that Dr. Pedicone has a known hater and Latino student-smearer on his Cabinet, who just received a raise last week, and his decision to put such a hater in charge of MAS was intentional. The intent is for her to dismantle the program from within, and with Garcia also forming a buffer from Pedicone so Pontius Pedicone can wash his hands clean of the death of an innocent program.

This week TUSD superintendent John Pedicone was called to testify in the HB2281 – Ethnic Studies case in Phoenix to determine whether the Mexican American Studies program in TUSD should be banned.

While on the stand, Pedicone was asked about an email he received from his assistant superintendent Dr. Lupita Garcia, a known hater of the MAS program who he put in charge of supervising the program and who has been working behind the scenes to ensure lower enrollments of the MAS classes.

Are the TUSD supes recruiting or scaring students away from MAS courses?

In the email Dr. Garcia discusses the MEChA program, a nationwide student organization found on just about every college, including the UA and community colleges.

Garcia describes the program as being anti-semitic and follows in Mark Stegeman’s footsteps by suggesting that this program can be used to indoctrinate vulnerable children into a dangerous way of thinking.

Mark Stegeman was the former TUSD board president who was ousted this week after testifying that he believed the MAS program was a cult. His ousting on Tuesday came on the same day of Pedicone’s testimony that involved Dr. Garcia’s email.

TUSD’s witch-hunt against Mexican-American Studies and student organizations continues to intensify, from the board president to the superintendent’s cabinet. Perhaps this is why Pedicone continues to disrespect the MAS advisory board, made up of many powerful Latinos in Tucson and almost all were involved in MEChA themselves.

By calling MEChA an anti-semitic organization, Dr. Garcia, is also accusing the following people of anti-semitism as former MEChA members and supporters.

• TUSD board member Adelita Grijalva’s father US Congressman Raul Grijalva.
• Grijalva’s assistant Ruben Reyes and his wife, Ward 1 councilmember Regina Romero.
• Two Obama Cabinet members, Ken Salazar and Hilda Solis.
• Mayor of America’s second-largest city Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa.

And many many others. Did I mention the TUSD board just gave her a raise this week?

After working to reduce MAS enrollment, dismantling the program without Arizona’s hateful laws, punishing the MAS director, and calling the largest Chicano student organization in the county anti-semitic, she was rewarded with a raise by a TUSD board.

No wonder Tucson is in the mess it is in — you get bonuses for demonizing Chicano students in this town.

Pedicone must now decide; either he agrees that MEChA is anti-semitic and he should ban it, or if he doesn’t think it is he should deal with these serious allegations that his assistant superintendent is making towards Latino students.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 28th, 2011 at 10:39 am and is filed under Headline news. Tags for this post: john pedicone, lupita garcia, mecha. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.