THE AGE OF COTO CRONYISM IS OVER. WELCOME TO THE ERA OF DESPOTIC NEPOTISM

Everyone who knows Joel Herrera will tell you he’s a real nice guy. The faded brown sports coat, the mildly wrinkled white-collared shirt, and the subtle professional tie fail to mask the earthy ponytail strewing down his back. A hard-working and humble man; he has earned the respect of administrative colleagues and a James Lick faculty weary from the implementation of a restrictive, county-imposed curriculum. When the district discovered (manufactured?) a budget shortfall, the ESUHSD Board president took the novel approach of opening the number vetting process to the public. A reliable administrator was needed to facilitate the process, and from a large pool of potential candidates, someone at the district office chose . . . Manuel Herrera's brother Joel.

To be fair, Joel Herrera was just as qualified to direct the BTF (Budget Task Force) as anyone. The Board needed someone trustworthy to facilitate the demands of this untested process. And as far as we know, he isn’t being paid for this extra duty, save his individual portion of the some odd hundred dollars worth of catered Marie Callendar's box dinners served to BTF members at every meeting. Team Unruly contends that Joel was the best choice for this thankless task.

The problem isn’t the matter of a brother asking a sibling for a favor. It’s politically subtle. Let’s call it irony of the “Cast the First Stone” variety. Two distinct criticisms have been levied against former superintendent turned assemblyman Joe Coto: fiscal mismangement and rampant cronyism. Team Unruly sees both charges as matters of perception. The former dominates the thoughts of the media and the ESUHSD community, but the latter, while occasionally noted in the papers (See “Creditgate” here: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/01.01.04/2003-headlines-0401.html ) has not received its analytic due.

Coto’s critics contend that he sat atop a bloated administrative empire filled with loyal friends earning six-figure salaries for doing God knows what. There’s some truth to this view. Some argued former district grant-writer Ramon Martinez’s second job was to set up the karaoke equipment at administrative retreats. And there are numerous cases where aspiring female administrators saw no way to rise above the glass ceiling of what one current Board member called “the Latino good ol’ boy” regime.

Another perspective? Coto rewarded incompetence. He did so to avoid the uncomfortable task of firing poor performing site administrators. When teachers despise a school’s administration, they historically transfer to other sites in a district. When this happened during Coto’s tenure, he would move the questionable principal into a district office job, far removed from the day to day interaction with teachers, parents and students. That doesn’t mean he only placed the incompetent in district positions. There have been a number of outstanding district administrators who earned the respect of teachers during their time at school sites. Bill Kugler and Cathy Giamonna come immediately to mind. But the occasional lemon dance gave Coto the “rewarding incompetence” rep.

This management practice needed to change. It’s just ironic that those who led the loudest charge against Coto are now finding ways to use the district to help their relatives.

One person who didn’t receive a pink slip was Aurora Quevedo. A former Alum Rock administrator who eventually went to Salinas only to have her contract bought out (editor’s note: We don’t know why. Was it her managerial style?), Dr. Quevedo came into the district as part of Zendejas’ personal admin team. She also happens to be Trustee Patty Martinez-Roach’s sister.

Craig Mann has a sister who works in the district, but she didn’t earn her teaching position through political connections. However, it is interesting to note that Mann has been very active trying to acquire more funds and programs for Evergreen Valley High School, the school in his neighborhood. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but there is a definite conflict of interest when a Board member elected to represent the entire district meets with a group whose sole purpose is to dissolve the district as it stands today. We’ve reported on Robichaux’s secession group before. Their aim is to bring Silver Creek and Evergreen High Schools into the Evergreen Elementary School District for unification. That means more money to the Evergreen district, and more administrative jobs at the Evergreen district office. Trustee Mann’s second wife is a principal at an Evergreen elementary school who could stand to gain if the Robichaux secession succeeds.

Dr. Zendejas, who some term the district despot, is an outsider with no apparent nepotistic gains to be made. She is a self-published author and motivational speaker, however, who uses her position and district resources for self-promotional purposes, like television and radio shows. In January she spoke at the “Ventura County Chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Professionals” awards dinner. Did her strong motivational speaking skills earn her the gig? Click here and take a gander at the photo of Dr. Zendejas with her sisters Estelle and Marie, who happens to be the 2004 NAREP president:

Ah, nepotism. What’s the lesson for East Side’s esteemed leaders? If you’re going to levy a cronyism charge against someone, don’t give the public the idea that you practice the offending behavior yourself.