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2/07/07 Diogenes would
be very frustrated on Ross Avenue.
Sometimes, our public officials pleasantly surprise
us. When was there anything from DISD that was pleasant? The past
several weeks have been so dismal that even a cynic like me is stunned.
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2/6
Michael Davis:
It gets
me the most is that Martinez has the temerity to give as a reason
for his refusal to follow the residency requirement, "I want
to exercise my right to live anywhere I like."
With OUR tax money.
What?
$140K per year can't buy a house in Dallas? How can he speak
effectively on upholding the rules of the District when he doesn't
live by the rules?
On top of that, he's building
a house outside of the allowable boundaries. He moved from suburb to
suburb in COLLIN COUNTY!
He needs to be FIRED immediately.
I bet you he gets the waiver
from Hinojosa. How can Hinojosa say
he wants to build the best school district in the country when his
own people won't live by the rules? If
Martinez gets the waiver, Hinojosa loses
what little credibility he has left.
And Hinojosa wants
to win the Broad Prize for Education? Puhleeze.
Michael Davis,
Dallas Progress
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Monday night, Sarah Dodd interviewed Celso Martinez, DISD's $139,000 Assistant
Superintendent (aka DISD spokesman). She caught him a couple of lies, but
she exposed Collin County Celso for an arrogant ignoramus who thinks he is above
the rules of his employment. Go to
www.cbs11tv.com to watch the video.
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CBS 11 News) DALLAS
CBS 11 News asked to speak with
Dr. Hinijosa to get answers on the exec's board violation. Hinijosa
denied every request and directed us to the Chief of Staff. So we
asked him, should Martinez be exempt from the board policy?
Celso Martinez accepted an executive level job at Dallas Independent
School District seven months ago. He's being paid $140,000 a year.
His immediate supervisor, DISD Chief of Staff Ron Peace, says
Martinez was told there were certain residency requirements that
came along with the job.
"This job requires living within the confines of the Dallas
Independent School District. We would expect that if you take the
position, you would be moving into Dallas," Peace said.
Martinez lives in McKinney. He's had 6 months to move within the
DISD boundaries and he is selling his house. But CBS 11 News has
learned he's put money down on another house outside of the
district. Some say he's sending a message that he has no intention
of living in the district where he is a top executive.
Martinez made it clear to CBS 11 News that he doesn't think he
should have to follow the rule.
"I live in this wonderful country where many people have fought and
died for my right, your right, to work where you want to and live
where you want to," said Martinez. "I want to exercise that right."
Martinez has asked for a waiver, so he doesn't have to live in
Dallas. The board policy says he must have "extenuating
circumstances."
We made three requests to speak with Dr. Hinijosa to get more
answers. He denied every request. Instead, he directed us to Peace.
When asked directly if Martinez should be exempt from the residency
rule, he responded by saying, "I don't think it's appropriate for me
to answer that."
And he's right. According to board policy, as the General
Superintendent, Dr. Hinijosa is the only person who has the
authority to grant the waiver. Some community activists say this is
another example of where Hinijosa is falling.
"The man at the top is setting a bad example," said Sharon Boyd,
community activist. "If he were being more disciplined with the
rules with his top staff, then maybe some of the underlings would
feel the need to be more disciplined."
One board trustee says not all rules are important.
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Tuesday night, Sarah Dodd
continued her story. One of the people she interviewed was former U.S.
Atty. Paul Coggins, whose firm is being paid almost a million dollars to
investigate the DISD credit card fraud that should have been turned over to the
FBI to be investigated for free. Coggins said there was nothing wrong with
the rules for using the credit cards -- it was the disregard of the rules that
was the problem.
In the same report, Dodd interviews DISD School Board Member Dr. Edwin Flores.
In one of the most unfortunate statements you could ever expect to hear from an
elected official, Dr. Flores says "not all rules are important". Dr.
Flores is a patent attorney with a scientific Ph.D., a very smart man, a
brilliant man. Let's apply his philosophy to his own profession.
Would he agree that not all patents are important?
It's interesting to compare what one attorney (Coggins) has to say about the
importance of rules in a government bureaucracy to what another attorney
(Flores) thinks about the rules of the bureaucracy in which he holds a fiduciary
position.
My home is in District 8, which is represented by Dr. Flores. The late Joe
May carved up my neighborhood so that most of our homes are in District 8.
Our neighborhood school and a handful of homes are in District 8, which is now
represented by Adam Medrano. You can imagine how not pleased I am with Dr.
Flores' ethics philosophy -- not all rules are important.
People cannot live together without rules. The most primitive tribes have
rigid rules. Without rules, you have chaos and anarchy.
To have an elected official state that "not all rules are important" certainly
reduces one's level of confidence in him and the governmental body he
represents. But wait, we're talking about the DISD, which is hardly
synonymous with good government. |
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2/8
Kyle Rains
Many of us who are DISD supporters because of our
wonderful experiences with great schools, dedicated teachers,
achieving students and supportive parents and alumni have to fight
for the image of the district every day. We have been doing this for
more than 30 years.
It's galling that Mr.
Martinez apparently prefers to live in areas with which we must
constantly compete for the public's
perception of good schools. We alums and
parents are doing better at providing and publicizing our
statistics on more National Merit Semi-finalists, more schools named
to Newsweek's Top Schools list, recognized and exemplary schools in
certain areas (such as East Dallas) and generally promoting DISD
than Mr. Martinez.
It's a shame he is being paid
$140 grand per year and he's causing great damage to all that work
over all these years. He should be fired,
and his salary divided among all such worthy schools.
Kyle Rains,
Co-Founder
Woodrow Wilson High School
Alumni Assoc.
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2/6
David Stokes:
We have a DISD employee who is not following residency rules,
has paid "earnest" money on yet another house outside where he is
required to reside, and only wants to follow the rules he likes.
I propose Martinez gets to keep his job, but (1) his pay cut to
match the average DISD teacher. (2) He pays DISD taxes on
whichever Colin County house is his official residence on top of
whatever school tax he pays in the school district where he lives.
This lets him live whereever he wants and teaches him that
choices have consequences.
I am
surprised there is not an official 'do not re-elect anyone' movement in
this state.
Our political and bureaucratic offices would be better filled with
random selections from jury duty pools, American Idol cast offs or the
first few hundred folks stuck in weekday morning traffic on a randomly
chosen freeway/tollway. |
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2/6
James Northrup:
Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers. . . . no other way to keep
large public school systems honest and productive.
If the customers don't like
the way the system is being run, they can leave, without moving to
another district.
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2/6
Anonymouse:
Oh lord…
I just saw Dodd’s story with
Martinez. What
a boob! Does he think she’s stupid?
That she hasn’t done her homework? He should have just answered
straight up, and Hinojosa should have
spoken, too. A
1-day story is now a 3-day
open wound! These people are train wrecks!
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Sarah Dodd's reports have everyone all stirred up -- even the folks on D
Magazine's FrontBurner:
| RE:
CELSO MARTINEZ
An alert FBvian--as all
are--points us to Sharon Boyd's
site. Looks like
that's where the tip came from. From what I understand, Trey, Dodd
didn't get the info from Unfair Park. So, you know, like, correct your
"Correction," below.
More to the point: if
Martinez doesn't come out in the next 24 hours and unequivocably state
that he's shopping for a house inside the district, that will say a lot
about the leadership at 3700 Ross. So far he's made two rather serious
mistakes: 1) thinking he was exempt from the rules that everyone else is
expected to play by and 2) lying to Sarah Dodd. If Martinez would rather
live someplace other than Dallas, that sends a strong message. If
Hinojosa allows him to live someplace other than Dallas, that also sends
a strong message.
Both messages are bad.
Tim Rogers |
Tim Rogers is right. If
Dr. Hinojosa and/or the School Board grant a waiver to Collin County Celso, it
will indeed send two very bad messages.
On the other hand, it will certainly give me lots of fodder for future
commentaries. But you know, I'm a DISD taxpayer. My neighbors'
children attend DISD schools (pray for them). I don't the DISD to continue
to be great scandal copy. I want Dr. H and the School Board to just once
do the right thing.
Diogenes was in a
futile search of an honest man.
It was said Diogenes "searched
with a lantern in the daylight for an honest man."
Diogenes would have no
more success at DISD today.
It all comes down to the issue of Collin County Celso's contempt for DISD
taxpayers. He doesn't want to live amongst us. He avows concern for
the education of DISD schoolchildren, but he does not want to live near their
families.
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