THE ARTIFICE OF RESIGNATION: THE UNRULY ADVOCATE’S RAPID RESPONSE TO ZENDEJAS’ DEPARTURE

On Friday, July 1st, East Side Union High School District Board President J. Manuel Herrera announced that controversial superintendent Esperanza Zendejas was resigning from her position. This email was forwarded to all ESUHSD employees:

For Immediate Release

The Board of Trustees of the East Side Union High School District regrets to announce that Dr. Esperanza Zendejas has elected to submit her resignation as Superintendent of the East Side Union High School District, effective July 18, 2005. Dr. Zendejas has chosen to pursue other professional and educational opportunities. She will remain available to assist the District to assure a smooth transition.

The Board and the Superintendent have worked closely together through significant problems facing the District, and share a mutual regard for each other. The Board wishes Dr. Zendejas well in her future endeavors, and Dr. Zendejas extends her personal gratitude for the privilege of serving the District and the opportunity to work with students, employees, and members of the community toward improving the District.

J. Manuel Herrera, Board President

East Side Union High School District

While the editorial staff of The Unruly Advocate was happy with the news of Zendejas’ departure, we knew our readership would want more information than Herrera gave. We also saw through the announcement’s political rhetoric—and we were not impressed.

A resignation is the cowardly compromise of politics. It is artifice used to mask failure. In the case of the ESUHSD, neither the board nor district administration has to accept responsibility for any of the failures stemming from Zendejas’ despotic district management. We would not expect an ethical admission of guilt from the departing superintendent. Given the nature of this compromise, we do not expect a mea culpa from any of the trustees either. Our readers still want to know the truth. They want to know if hiring Zendejas was an act of gross negligence on the part of the trustees or intentional malice against the employee unions. A resignation conveniently leaves that question unanswered indefinitely.

We can tell our readers what has happened historically with Zendejas. Submitting a resignation is part of her modus operandi. Prior to Indianapolis, she resigned positions because a new opportunity came her way. In Indianapolis, Zendejas was hired to “reform” the district—and not just the schools and teachers. She demanded that the IPS trustees unconditionally support all of her actions. In her second year, after attempting yet again to shuffle administrators for no apparent reason other than an exercise in applied Machiavellian management, the IPS board said no. That and the fact that former IPS board member and outspoken Zendejas critic Hazel Stewart, at a previous meeting, chased Zendejas out into the parking lot to berate her for decimating district morale led the beleaguered superintendent to request a buyout. The details of that buyout were printed in the Indianapolis Star:

Publication: STAR (THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR) Section: NEWS
Date: 12/10/1997 Edition: CITY FINAL
Day: 4. WED (WED) Page: A01
Length: 3 Notes: ALSO APPEARED INDPLS NEWS SAME DAY/C01

Zendejas' departure plan

Here are highlights of the separation agreement between Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas and the Indianapolis Public School Board:

The board will pay Zendejas $158,115.64.

The board will provide Zendejas with a letter of recommendation.

Zendejas and the board agree not to take any action or issue statements that embarrass or humiliate each other.

Zendejas will be on paid vacation from Dec. 19 through Dec. 26.

Note the second to last sentence. The board and Zendejas would not issue statements to humiliate or embarrass each other, even though the turmoil Zendejas and members of the IPS board caused was already well documented in the Indianapolis Star. Who, then, would be blamed for Zendejas’ failures? Normally, blame is levied against the amorphous “system”, the equally amorphous “bureaucracy”, and the group with the least amount of direct political influence: the teachers. And that happened to an extent in Indianapolis.

If you want a current example of how teachers are blamed for the failures of administrators and school board office holders, read this month’s Unruly Advocate article on Alan Bersin “Hey San Diego! It’s Time to Get Unruly”.

Initially The Unruly Advocate was going to wait until we uncovered more behind the scenes information about the “resignation” before we published an article. The first article to appear in the Mercury News altered that plan.

Those in the district who control the media will be given the most credence when it comes to spinning Zendejas’ departure. And Unruly readers know there are a couple of board members who would be more than happy to blame the teachers and the unions, especially when part of the negotiation deal probably includes a statement about the board and Zendejas agreeing not to embarrass each other. As mainstream media articles appear in the coming weeks, Team Unruly promises to set aside the Mai Tai mix and issue a rapid response. The board needs to know that the community is closely watching how these events unfold.

On Saturday, the Mercury News ran the first detailed article about Zendejas’ resignation, which you can read here: .

And, as usual, their facts are a little off. This time, the first mistake appears in the sub-title “SUPERINTENDENT ZENDEJAS’ DECISION COMES AS A SURPRISE”. It was hardly a surprise that something was up. Since the end of May, there have been five closed session board meetings, three of them special meetings, regarding the superintendent’s performance. Rumors of Zendejas departing had been circulating through the district since January.

In the first sentence, Zaragoza claims Zendejas “faced a succession of financial crises, intense criticism of her management style and a one-campus secession effort.” Yes, the whole district faced a number of financial crises, but a number of them were caused by Zendejas. And though he alludes to Andrew Hill’s charter movement, if the Robichaux secession effort is included, then there were two efforts involving three campuses.

Zendejas had little to say to Zaragoza about her departure, but took a moment to say she was “proud of academic advances, district bureaucracy reductions and finance reforms made during her watch.” Can anyone point to an academic advance that she directly inspired? Back in September, the Mercury News credited her for raising test scores district wide and cited her support of a summer school program as a key factor. Those in the know concede those scores had more to do with long-standing reform efforts that began long before her arrival, including the aforementioned summer school program. District bureaucracy increased under her watch more than ever before. Take field trips, for example. In order for a field trip to be approved, trip organizers must submit the appropriate documentation—including all parent/student permission slips—two months prior to the trip. Paperwork needing the approval of one of the five district cabinet members will sit in someone’s in-basket for weeks. Processing requests for purchase orders have taken so long to cycle through the district office that some vendors refuse to conduct business with ESUHSD.

Of course, her most famous “finance reform” had to do with the abolition of district and school-site credit cards. The scandal that erupted over the matter, what came to be known by some as “creditgate,” speaks more to her management style than her ability to reform. In early November of 2004, Zendejas was ordered to release an auditor’s report documenting the questionable expenditures of the abusing trustees, in particular Craig Mann, who was seeking reelection to the board. A former district administrator, Doug Emerson, attended a press conference related to the incident. Zendejas told a reporter for the Hollister Free Lance that she felt “Emerson did release confidential information regarding reports on the errant spending at a press conference last week, which he said he was not inclined to attend at first but later decided to go to because he “felt comfortable” divulging information regarding the reports.”
When the reporter followed up with Emerson, he told the paper “he believed Zendejas had been trying to keep the financial reports confidential until after the Nov. election to protect Craig Mann, a board member whom Thursday’s report said abused his District-issued credit card.” Zendejas was unavailable for comment when the reporters called back. (Read the article here: )

After noting her supposed triumphs, Zendejas tells the Mercury News, ``Would I have done anything differently? Been less pointed? Perhaps,'' she said. ``But we learn our lessons and we move on.''

Does Dr. Zendejas have the capacity to learn lessons? If she did, she would have remembered that suppressing auditor reports can lead to lawsuits, which happened while she was at the helm in Brownsville (read about it here: ). She would have learned that her top-down approach to management led to her demise in Indianapolis (read it here: ) and Brownsville (read the story here: ) The only lesson she seems to have learned from her past experiences is how to negotiate an attractive severance package.

When Zaragoza asked board president Herrera about Zendejas’ resignation, “Sadness and regret were foremost in his thoughts as news of the superintendent's decision to leave sank in.” Of course, he’s been at the forefront of negotiating this package for over a month now—it was hardly news to him. He will be facing reelection in 2006. The reality is by last October, the board was divided on Zendejas’ performance, but the 3-2 split worked in Zendejas’ favor. When former trustee Juanita Ramirez lost her seat to political newcomer Lan Nguyen, the balance of power shifted. After the layoff fiasco, one of Zendejas’ two supporters, trustee Patricia Martinez-Roach, changed her vote, leaving 4 against and 1 for. Herrera didn’t just have to negotiate a resignation with Zendejas—he had to free trustee Mann from blame too. Mann was convinced that his reelection was a voter mandate in support of his and Dr. Zendejas’ reform efforts (read it here: )

Herrera gave the Mercury what appears to Team Unruly to be a prepared statement: ``We had hoped that Dr. Zendejas would have found this to be a longer-term opportunity,'' said Herrera, who praised her thoroughness, especially in financial matters.” Of course, the Mercury fails to mention that Herrera publicly chastised Zendejas over her proposed budget recommendations. The statement does show that Dr. Zendejas does learn lessons as she moves on; it’s the second to last line in the buyout details from Indianapolis listed above. The board and Zendejas agree not to issue statements that humiliate or embarrass either party.

Sounds like Herrera is keeping his promise.

So is The Unruly Advocate. As information appears in the mainstream press, we’ll be ready to issue a rapid response. Keep checking back for updates.