Who is Judy Castleberry? What's a TEA monitor? When EPISD locks Judy Castleberry, the new TEA monitor out of her first meeting, El Paso, TEA and Texas are getting the general idea. EPISD is a monumental mess. And a monitor will just not work.
What does a monitor do? She sits, takes notes, watches and reports. Who does she report to? She reports back to the same Board and TEA that did nothing for two years as this cancer grew and grew. Make no mistake-- at EPISD, we have a cancer-and we need to carve it out.
Let's take stock. EPISD is near systemic failure. At Central office, out at certain campuses, dozens of Lorenzo Garcia's team still run the place. Almost every one of them got Garcia bonuses to be on the Garcia team. The number of disappeared kids is not 'just a few' as Lorenzo Garcia, David Dodge and others still try to make us believe. Disappeared kids were at all 15 Priority Schools.
Let's start with Garcia's illegal bonuses. What about the Bowie principal who got $6,000 right after he was 'written up' by James Anderson. He kept 'quiet' until the El Paso Times got 5,000 EPISD documents and starting telling what really happened at EPISD. Then that principal was moved to Central Office.
Or what about the head of EPISD Curriculum & Instruction that got a $27,000 bonus between 2006-07. That's right about the time she went along with Garcia and Damon Murphy's plan to target sub-groups to pass TAKS. She was the 'check and balance' for Federal grants. Do you think any of them have some liability here?
What about the kids at Austin, Coronado, Jefferson and Bowie who have already been in the news? Garcia himself has admitted in his plea that his scheme hurt children at all 15 priority schools, not just Bowie.Based on state numbers, the cost of that hurt is $9924 per year per student which is what taxpayers pay to educate kids at EPISD.
What's coming soon is restitution. That means if you pocketed illegal money then you have to pay it back. It's been in the news lately with Luther Jones and others who cheated too. How will Judy Castleberry get into EPISD's closed rooms when dozens who got illegal money have a vested interest in keeping her out? What's important to them is keeping a lid on the biggest education scandal in the US.
Let's take a look at Atlanta. Some believe Atlanta was a big scandal too. If you google 'education scandal' you will see Atlanta Public Schools. Over in Atlanta, about 178 employees schemed to tell the kids the answers to the test. What happened?
Well, the next day, the kids were still in class. High stakes test scores went up. Administrators looked good. But the Governor of Georgia found out. He got an ex DA and ex Attorney General to investigate. Their 800 page report identified each wrong doer in the district. Now, 178 employees who cheated or permitted cheating are in 'time out'. Administrators who cheated and half the principals who did too are long gone. Prosecutors are combing the files and the District has new employees to educate kids to compete, not cheat.
Atlanta's toxic mess is on the mend. Open community forums happen often; the district is more transparent. Fear no longer rules the classrooms. As Errol Davis, the new Atlanta boss says "Our obligation is to the children and the organization. It's not to an individual." Click here to read about the CHATAQUA movement.
Atlanta has only 50,000 students. EPISD has a bigger mess with 64,000 students and deeper cancer. After all, at EPISD, the students got disappeared right out of the classroom and often out of the District. Just who will pay for their lost education now? And who will pay back all the federal dollars passed around to disappear those kids?
Lorenzo Garcia's cancer has already spread. Some of his suspected unindicted co-conspirators are in other districts. Add to that a TEA Commissioner whose failure to investigate enabled that corruption for two years. Now, TEA has it's own liability to cover up. Read editorial from EP Times, on the issue.
So, what do we do now?
Let's start by admitting that we have a monumental mess on our hands. What happened at EPISD was an epic failure in ethics and leadership. Then let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. Good schools are the key to good jobs, real success and our future. It matters way too much to El Paso's future to sit on the sidelines while the Board fails and TEA fumbles.
If Rick Perry wants to do something right, then he should send us a Conservator now. Members of the EPISD Board have struck out three times. In June 2007, the Board had an auditor directly under them and did nothing. In January 2010, I personally told two Board members exactly what was going on. Others did too. Later in 2010, the Board ordered an audit and let it stay in a drawer. Two years of dodging and three strikes is enough. TEA needs to take over the District, do audits at EPISD and TEA, lock the Trustees out and clean it up now, not dozens of lawsuits from now.
In two years, after the 'limpia' at EPISD we can put new trustees, new administrators and new programs that work. If Trustees still don't get the message, the US District Court right here in El Paso can just take over EPISD to run it as the law requires. After all, we did it back in the 70s for civil right violations not near as severe as these.
Come on El Paso-strap on your chanclas and let's get going. Our children are worth the fight!
Senator Eliot Shapleigh
Texas Senate-El Paso
1997-2011
