TEAM UNRULY’S RESPONSE TO THE SAN JOSE MERCURY’S ENDORSEMENT OF JUANITA RAMIREZ AND CRAIG MANN

On Friday, October 15, the San Jose Mercury News endorsed incumbents Craig Mann and Juanita Ramirez for re-election, in diametric opposition to the opinion of those of us at unrulyrus.com. They did note that this endorsement comes “not without reservations.” Team Unruly believes these reservations are much more significant than the Mercury is willing to admit. In fact, what the Mercury left out of their article is far more telling than the brief statements about their reservations. In describing Juanita Ramirez’s tenure as board president, the Mercury notes, “She's not good at running meetings: unsure of herself, clumsy with the public, at a loss over how to keep scrapping board members in line.” They fail to mention that when a squabble erupts at a board meeting, Ramirez is usually one of the squabblers. Characterizing her strengths, the Mercury describes Ramirez as “thoughtful and considerate of her colleagues.” Perhaps the Mercury should research their archives. Prior to her incumbency on the ESUHSD board of trustees, Ms. Ramirez served as the president of the Alum Rock school board, which in a 1994 article the Mercury labeled the “worst school board” in the state. Dig deeper into the article and you’ll discover that Alum Rock’s constituents attempted to recall Ms. Ramirez. In a magnanimous showing of her “thoughtful and considerate” behavior, Ramirez enlisted the help of a board colleague to retaliate against Esau Herrera, another Alum Rock board member, by nearly running him down in a car. Esau Herrera happens to be the brother of ESUHSD trustee J. Manuel Herrera, which should give you an idea about the current state of collegiality between the ESUHSD board members.

The Mercury’s reservations about Craig Mann are even more puzzling. In the Mercury’s estimation, Mr. Mann “can be abrasive, overly demanding, and self-promotional. His confrontational style has irritated his colleagues and alarmed some administrators. He is Enemy Number One of the teachers' union.” Even though they had a field day reporting on the scandals that have plagued Craig Mann this past year (you can read about Craig Mann’s questionable credit card expenditures here: and here: and also examine Mann’s precarious role in negotiating political favors for city council member Terry Gregory here: ), the Mercury never mentions Mann’s political turmoil in their endorsement. Regardless of the other niceties the Mercury throws Mann’s way, they really only endorse him because “[he] will provide a vote [Zendejas] can count on.”

In their endorsement the Mercury establishes one fact about this election: it is a referendum on Dr. Zendejas’ performance as superintendent. In their view, “Next month's election could determine whether Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas can move forward with the bold changes and curriculum reforms that the East Side Union High School District deserves. Electing trustees who fully support and defend her is, in our mind, the overriding issue in the election.” (You can read the entire text of the editorial here: )

Is Dr. Zendejas doing a good job? Will she be able to successfully implement her reforms? Voters must consider these questions before casting their ballots on November 2nd. A few might say yes, but those voters are probably not visiting this site. An overwhelming majority of East Side’s employees, including teachers, classified staff, and administrators, would say no (the running joke at the various schools is Zendejas has one supporter at each site, which would equal about 15 people in a district with well over 1000 employees). It’s not the first time the employees at a school district questioned her ability to lead. Here’s what the union president for the Indianapolis public schools had to say: “Superintendents come and go [. . .] I think whoever [replaces Dr. Zendejas] will also have high standards for the school corporation, and I hope the next person ... will be a bit more collaborative” (check out the “skeletons” link for more info: )

In a different yet still recent editorial from September 17, 2004 (read the whole article here: ) the Mercury rightly argues that Dr. Zendejas will “need the support of teachers and the community to make her ambitious agenda stick.” If earning support is the primary measure of Dr. Zendejas’ ability to lead, then she has failed in spite of the Mercury’s glowing approval of her ideas. Voters, and the editorial staff at the Mercury News, must consider this overriding question: can Zendejas implement ambitious reforms when her subordinates-the very people whose job it will be to put those reforms into action-have no respect for her as a leader?

The answer is no. The evidence has been around for the Mercury to investigate for quite some time, but they dismissively tell the public that the complaints and criticisms come from a group of “union leaders.” This website proves them wrong. Team Unruly is comprised of a variety of people from the rank and file as well as citizens from the community at large, all representing a number of East Side high schools. It has no affiliation with either employee union. It was created to give a voice to the dissenting crowd the mainstream media wants to ignore. And it is the unanimous opinion of Team Unruly that Craig Mann and Juanita Ramirez are directly responsible for the leadership crisis plaguing the district. We encourage you to vote no incumbents in this election, and instead choose one of the three viable candidates (Nguyen, Campos and Lawson), all three of whom agree that real reform takes place when all stakeholders can participate in the decision-making process.