Editors call Esquivel on his lack of sensitivity

In the Journal this morning, link, the editors pointed to APS School Board President Marty Esquivel's failure to "get it" that, when teachers are looking at losing their jobs through layoffs made "necessary" by budget cuts, it is important that the leadership appear to be doing everything they can to be sharing the pain equitably.

Esquivel's inability to grasp the notion became apparent when he offered;"If we cut a few $100,000 salaries by 5 percent, what's that going to accomplish?"

That, offered in defense of APS Supt Winston Brooks intention to spare senior administrators any pain because; "compared to other states, our pay for top administrators is pretty sorry."

The same might be said for teacher salaries.

Elsewhere in the Journal, link, Brooks explained away his accounting department's failures by pointing out that,

"the finance department was going through a period of upheaval."

"I'm not intending this to sound like an excuse, but we've had three CFOs in four years, and we've had at least four budget directors, I think, since I've been here,"

The Journal decided to not report upon Brooks' failures with respect to the turnovers. One CFO resigned amid allegations of a cover up, link, of the monumental problems pointed to by Meyners auditors;

• the historical lack of adequate policies, and
• the historical lack of accountability to such standards as there were, and
• the historical lack of record keeping complete and accurate enough to send any one to jail.

One Director of Internal Audits was fired when it was revealed that he was spending part of his work days in porn shops and casinos. Brooks absolutely owned the vetting failure, link, that precipitated the scandal, but has been, and will be, given a bye by Journal "education" reporters.

Esquivel and Brooks steadfastly refuse to allow any independent review of the APS Finance Division or of any other administrative division of the leadership of the APS; reviews that would point to the lack of standards and accountability.

For their part, the Journal steadfastly affords them the cover they need to escape accountability for their efforts to cover up the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS; an occasional mild editorial rebuke not withstanding.




photos Mark Bralley