DID YOU KNOW? THE SUMMER 2005 EDITION

Did you know that historically in the East Side about three administrators retire each year? Did you know that it is common for that number to rise a little the first year after a new superintendent is hired?

Did you know Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas has been in the district for two years? Did you know that this year more administrators are leaving the district than ever before? Did you know that some of those administrators are not retiring? Of course you knew that.

But how about this. Did you know former district Chief Academic Officer turned Silver Creek interim principal Art Darin is retiring? Did you know he was quietly demoted from his Chief Academic Officer position? Do you know why? Either do we. We keep asking questions, and we get lots of different answers. Did you know the best answer we received is this month’s featured irony? The story goes like this: Mr. Darin was involved in setting up vendor accounts for different district needs, including computer technology purchases. Did you know Mr. Darin has an adult daughter who works for a computer retailer? For a while, her company was the vendor for the district. At a recent meeting, a district official when pressed said Darin’s demotion had to do with the appearance of conflict of interest since his daughter worked for the technology vendor. Did you read this story in the Metro? Go ahead and read it here: . Now that you’ve read it, did you really think people in this district worry about the appearance of a conflict of interest?

Did you know that the superintendent sent out an email in April stating that Mr. Darin requested to remain at Silver Creek as the principal? If he requested to remain the principal, why did he request to retire too? Did you know that appears to be a contradiction? We can’t explain why our leaders are contradicting themselves, but we thought you might like to know!